Narrative Research

For over two decades, from 2000 to 2024, Narrate was the vehicle for all my narrative work. That’s a long time in the world of organisational research , and it's given me a depth of experience that's hard to match. Now, as I continue this work under the Tony Quinlan banner, I'm bringing all that knowledge and expertise to bear on your most complex challenges.

At Narrate, we use narrative research to help you uncover new insights from large volumes of qualitative data, and use these insights to ignite change in your organisation. Our team will help you identify outliers or weak signals of impending change, so you can better understand diverse perspectives and make more informed, agile decisions.

Let's be honest - the term 'narrative research' can sound a bit woolly. But at its core, it's about something fundamentally human: stories. I'm not talking about grand epics here, but the small, everyday stories that people tell about their experiences. These micro-narratives are goldmines of insight into how people really think, feel, and behave.

Here's the thing: people don't always do what they say they do, or even what they think they do. Traditional surveys might tell you what people believe about themselves, but narrative research reveals how they actually live and make decisions. It's the difference between asking someone to list their values and watching how they behave when they think no one's looking.

Uncover the hidden patterns in how people behave and make decisions

Identify the early warning signs of changes in your organisation or market

Understand the complex web of relationships and influences that shape your environment

Find the potential leverage points where small changes can have big impacts

In other words, it gives you the kind of insights that can make the difference between a change program that fizzles out and one that fundamentally transforms your organisation.

I use a clever piece of software called SenseMaker. It’s like a Swiss Army knife for narrative research – versatile, powerful and occasionally a bit tricky to use if you don’t know what you’re doing. Luckily I’ve been using it for 15 years across six continents, so I know many of its quirks and capabilities.

1. We get curious together - exploring what patterns really matter in your organisation's context.

2. People share their stories - natural, everyday experiences that illuminate how things actually work.

3. As they share, they easily add meaning to their stories using SenseMaker - no complex interpretation needed.

4. With hundreds of stories and meanings, we can visualise the patterns that emerge. (And it's often surprising what we discover.)

5. And then the interesting part - working with your people to make sense of these patterns and explore what small steps might help shift things.

Glad you asked, Over the years, I’ve used narrative research to:

Help brand managers to change Pfizer salespeople’s negative perceptions of a product

Identify core messaging to generate better health outcomes in Bangladesh

Show change managers at a major Silicon Valley tech company what needed fixing before they launched a customer-centric change program

Uncover customer concerns and opportunities around call centre responses for a major telecom in India

Give leaders clear insights and actions to change perceptions of poor hierarchy and management within a European Commission organisation

Highlight early warning signs of community breakdowns in conflict zones like Yemen for a United Nations organisation

Shape new onboarding experiences to help integrate new employees without losing their fresh perspectives

Improve safety in the utilities sector by showing where systems were failing employees

Show leaders where their behaviour was creating a culture of silence in the healthcare sector

Uncover simple changes to improve patient perception of hospitals in Northern Ireland

Explore opportunities to create greater innovation in the defence sector

In each case, narrative research revealed insights that traditional methods had missed, and pointed the way to practical, effective actions.

If you're grappling with a complex challenge, if you feel like you're missing part of the picture, or if you simply want to understand your organisation or community better, narrative research might be worth exploring.

It's not about getting all the answers - it's about asking better questions and seeing the patterns that matter. And in today's complex, fast-changing world, that can make all the difference.

Ready to dive into the world of narrative research? Let's talk. Just don't expect me to solve all your problems overnight. I'm more of a 'steady progress through complexity' sort of chap. But I promise it'll be an interesting journey.

Understanding lived experiences:

The core principle of narrative research is to understand the world through the lens of individual lived experiences. Lived experience is what it is subjectively like to be a certain person at a certain time – and may be quite different from how other people around them see the world or the individual concerned. Researchers analyse narratives to uncover themes, emotions, motivations, and decision-making processes behind the stories. In immersing themselves in these personal accounts, narrative researchers piece together a more holistic understanding of how human beings perceive and react to their environments, offering a more reality-based model of human behaviour and the factors influencing it.

Focus on stories:

Narrative research gathers data through individuals' stories, either spoken or written. These stories can be personal experiences, historical accounts, cultural myths, or even fictional narratives that offer insights into human behaviour and social dynamics. Each story opens a unique window onto human behaviour in a particular context, frequently revealing underlying connections that help us understand how individuals navigate their world and make the decisions they do.

Beyond standard surveys:

While traditional surveys provide a snapshot of data – a rating of how people are feeling – they often leave organisations unsure about what to do to improve things or why the rating is how it is. Narrative research transcends these limitations by delving into the context and nuances that standard surveys frequently miss. For example, by gathering narratives from your employees, customers, or broader populations, researchers can uncover the triggers behind people’s emotions, the obstacles they face in their day-to-day lives and roles, what really matters to them, and examples of what leaders might do or stop doing to change things. Narrative research thus transforms raw data into actionable insights, bridging the gap between understanding and action.

Uncover deeper insights:

traditional research often focuses on demographics and data points – the surface level information that reveals what but not always why. Narrative research listens to people’s stories, unlocking rich insights into individual motivations, emotional triggers, and the decision-making processes behind purchases and behaviours.

Building emotional connections:

human beings are wired to connect with stories. Narrative research uses this innate affinity to help organisations create compelling narratives that extend beyond features and specifications. By weaving the essence of people’s experiences into your work, your services and your products, you can cultivate more authentic and lasting connections with your target buyers.

Innovation and problem solving:

the true potential of narrative research lies in its ability to spark ideas for the future. By analysing customer stories, you can identify hidden themes and patterns within your customer experiences. These insights can serve as a catalyst for innovation, revealing opportunities for new services or products, or enhancements to align with customer needs and expectations.

Stronger brand differentiation:

in a crowded marketplace, a compelling narrative can differentiate your organisation. Narrative research helps you to identify and articulate your unique value proposition through the power of storytelling, communicating the core values and qualities that set you apart.

Deeper cultural understanding:

Narrative research helps organisations truly understand their employees' lived experiences and perspectives. By listening to employee stories, leaders can map the cultural landscape, identify both opportunities and barriers to change, and build authentic paths forward that resonate with their workforce's real needs and aspirations. This deeper understanding creates the foundation for meaningful organisational evolution.

Countries

Topics

What Narrate did

Pakistan

Bangladesh

United Kingdom

Kyrgyzstan

Georgia

Belarus

Serbia

Italy

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Montenegro

Libya

Egypt

Netherlands

Saudi Arabia

Jordan

Portugal

Rwanda

Ethiopia

Spain

Democratic Republic of Congo

Afghanistan

Germany

Yemen

USA

Honduras

Colombia

Israel

Uganda

France

Yemen

Laos

Canada

Moldova

UAE

Customer loyalty

Security and stabilisation

Employee engagement and culture change

Poverty reduction

Salesforce improvement

Gender attitudes

Radicalisation

Customer needs

Cultural assessment

Government engagement and mandate

Building sustainable livelihoods

Attitudes to minorities

Organisational innovation

Economic empowerment and improvement

Health service improvement

Understanding employee resistance to change

Exploring human rights implementation

Monitoring organisational change

Improving leadership skills

Enhancing existing training programmes

Research into initial crisis conditions

Full project to explore multiple stakeholder/department needs in single project

Results presentation

Designed research for local/client data gathering

Data gathering

Training and mentoring of client staff

Ran workshops to design interventions with multiple stakeholders

Monitored effects while client programmes were running

Enhancing media campaigns through local content gathering

Analysis of previously collected data

Participative analysis workshops

Designed frameworks for narrative (SenseMaker®) research

Review of client/colleague-designed frameworks

Business & Industry

From global corporations to small internet startups, I’ve helped organisations become more adaptable and effective. Working with leadership teams to spot emerging opportunities, build responsive cultures, and help people work together in new ways - particularly during times of market and technological shifts.

Government & Public Service

I've supported government bodies in creating meaningful change in how they work and serve citizens. This has included helping policy teams become more responsive, teaching managers to adapt centrally-driven programs to local needs, and developing new approaches for citizens to shape decisions that affect their communities.

International Development

I've partnered with development organisations to make programs more effective and locally-owned. My work has focused on introducing adaptive management approaches, creating ways for local voices to influence decisions, and helping teams bridge the gap between high-level objectives and on-the-ground realities.