INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

Biographical methods carried a strong humanist impetus, in that
they provided a means of conducting research that gave voice to the
‘socially excluded’ (Bertaux, 1996). The holistic approach of the
biography leads to broader depictions of individuals’ identities both
temporally and socially within the social network that supports them.
(Bertaux, 1995 in Miller, 2000).
Nevertheless, within the biographical perspective, ‘process’ has a
particularly double-edged meaning. When a person’s life is viewed as
a whole, the idea of their ‘history’ can be comprehended at two levels.
First, the individual has their own history of personal development
and change as they ‘proceed along their life or a significant time of
their life course. Second, a considerable time passes as they move
along their life course. In this respect, historical event and social
change at the societal level impinge upon the individual’s own unique
life history’ (Miller, 2000).
The newfound popularity of the biographical perspective is based
on three basic approaches:
1. The Realistic approach which is based on induction.
Information is collected through collection of life histories,
and is issued to construct general principles concerning social
phenomena.
2. The Neo-positivist approach is based on deduction. Preexisting
networks of concepts are used to make theoretically
based predictions concerning people’s experienced lives. The
collection of information centers upon areas of theoretical
concern. Issues of conceptual validity are important for this
approach. In common with the realist, the neo-positivist also
posits the existence of an objective reality and holds that the
perceptions of the actor and an objective reality and holds that
the perspectives of actors do represent aspect of that reality
(Miller, 2000).
3. The Narrative approach bases itself upon the ongoing
development of the respondent’s viewpoint during the telling
of a life ‘story’. Understanding the individual’ unique and
changing perspective as it is mediated by context takes a
precedence over questions of fact. The narrative approach can
be labelled ‘postmodern’, in that reality is seen to be
situational and fluid. The narrative approach is tightly located
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