Colette Daiute explains the principles of what she terms "dynamic narrating" and how they compare to other forms of narrative research. She illustrates and applies dynamic narrative inquiry with examples, practical activities, applicable charts, suggestions for interpreting analyses, and tips on writing up the results. Her approach is grounded in an integration of cultural-historical activity, discourse theories that include critical discourse theory and conversation analysis, and interdisciplinary research on narrative as applied to a range of research projects in different cultural settings.

This book offers an approach to narrative inquiry in the social sciences, building on practices of daily life - where we use storytelling to do things, connect with other people, deal with social structures defining our lives, make sense out of what is going on around us, craft our own way of fitting in with those various contexts, and sometimes change them.