Abstract
Narrative and qualitative research is an interdisciplinary field that cuts across the humanities and the social and physical sciences, and its theoretical antecedents can be traced to interpretivism (including Wilhelm Dilthey), hermeneutics, and social constructionism, which have different views of reality and human life. Qualitative researchers are committed to an interpretive understanding of human experience. This paper reviews the epistemological stances for qualitative inquiry and recent narrative and qualitative research on the meaning in life. The importance of reflexivity about own theoretical stance and the implications of Dilthey’s philosophy for future qualitative inquiry are discussed.
