Narrative Interviewing in Research on the Education of Talented Learners Based on the Own Previous Research

The main goal of this article is to demonstrate the significant value of using narrative interviews in research on the education of talented learners. The authors decided to highlight the value of such research in the case of a specific group of learners. However, it might prove valuable to mention the special features of that method and some challenges that can appear in such research. The authors investigate the importance of applying narrative inquiry, especially narrative interviewing, in research on talented individuals. As for the research approach, it is embedded in qualitative methods. The authors present a retrospective secondary analysis based on their previous research into talented people’s experience of education, from an approach of both writer and reviewer. The introduction contains an outline of the subject of the text. Then, a description of narrative interviews and of talented learners is presented. The research method is also characterized. The previous results regarding talented learners’ experience of education are presented. Finally, the research results and recommendations for research practice are provided. The narrative interview technique proved to be a suitable method for the social sciences. It is appropriate for research on talented learners and their experiences within the educational process. Thanks to narrative interviews, researchers can reveal many important matters, such as learners’ intellectual talents and accomplishments, their relationships with themselves and other people, and some important common patterns of their functioning, such as perfectionism or non-conformism. Moreover, the research material can very rich and researchers can interpret it in very interesting ways so that the readers (educators and parents) can understand this particular group of learners and provide them with a convenient, conducive educational environment. The final section consists of some possibilities for researchers who want to use narrative interviewing as a method of research. The authors suggest obtaining some psychological and interpretative skills and building good relationships with the narrators.