A narrative inquiry approach was adopted as the major
methodology in this study. In addition, an interview, a questionnaire
and a small quiz were also employed as ancillary procedures to collect
relevant information. Data obtained from the questionnaire and the
interviews in addition to the narratives allowed the researcher to
understand the specific meaning which the participants assigned to
particular sub-topics.
Narrative Inquiry (Story-telling)
Story-telling has a very long history. Before printing was invented,
oral history was the primary tool for passing down the collective
wisdom and useful experience of the tribe from generation to
generation. Besides, human beings learn best from stories. Karl Weick
(1995: 127) stated that ‘people think narratively rather than
argumentatively or paradigmatically’. Narratives were the best way to
teach and learn complex ‘stuff’ (Davenport and Prusak, 2000:82).
Moreover, people find it easy to tell stories of personal events, activities
Narrative inquiry has been a very useful tool in the field of
knowledge management and organizational learning to capture and
transfer tacit knowledge. The narrative approach to knowledge
management was originally introduced by Thomas Davenport and
Laurence Prusak and popularized by Snowden and Denning, formerly
of the World Bank. This approach asserts that the use of stories to
communicate knowledge is very powerful in conveying the rich context
of knowledge and experience. Stories convey not just content but also
the meaning of experience from one person to another in a way that the
recipient can easily understand and recall. Research shows that
knowledge is communicated most effectively through narratives. Most
importantly, life stories have an inherent validity in the context if the
story teller is allowed to speak in their own words (Nermien Al-Ali,
2003:97).
Merely writing down or typing words in order to develop a central
database do not improve learning as these are not the usual ways people
want to share experience and knowledge. There have to be trust and
a means to change the traditional methods of sharing knowledge and
experience. Narrative is actually the driving idea behind the now
popular weblogs or blogs (Sumner, 2005), a new technology which
allows stories to be uploaded to the Internet and shared among an
unlimited number of readers. The Generation Y is very used to this type
of knowledge and experience sharing. Children grow up with
conversational narratives and they also tell stories around them
(Kyratzis, 2005).
Stephen Denning (2001) believed that story-telling enables an idea
to take root and flourish. It is a separate mode of cognitive functioning,
comprising a distinctive modality of understanding not reducible to
abstract thinking. Story-telling also enables us to understand the reality.
This is the primary way in which we make sense of the world, and it is
a central method by which we grasp the meaning of the past and
imagine and create our future.
When people are offered a chance to speak freely from an
highly textured, information rich portrayal of the central issues,
together with the underlying driving forces (Humpries, 2001). By
contrast, using targeted questions runs the risk of predisposing answers
and reducing the probability of bringing the real issues to the surface.
In this study, stories that participants chose to tell reflected what they
thought were important or what impressed them most. Besides, they
were able to comment on or express their feelings towards the stories
they recalled.
Karl Wigg (2004) listed many merits of narratives: stories tie
together concepts, judgements and other objects into mental spaces that
provide meaningful structure, organization, and relationships. Stories
cover many abstraction levels such as the how-to, know-that,
know-why, patterns and metaphors. Stories thus provide the basic
structure and often the origin of mental reference models.
Stories are good for effective communication and help us learn.
Stories are the natural and the most effective way of providing the
topic areas, and also their relations to other knowledge and experience.
A story is established when something happens. And it is the story
that is often told and remembered. According to many researchers,
story-telling is the best way to make the leap from information to
knowledge and also it is the surest way to capture and transfer tacit
knowledge. Most people find it easy to tell stories of personal events,
activities and experience using natural language rather than to write
them down. Dave Snowden (www.cognitive-edge.com) also called our
attention to the serendipitous information we may be able to obtain
from narrative inquiry.
For intergenerational learning, the learning contents and events
would not usually be written down or passed on as explicit knowledge;
rather they are buried in our daily life. The events could be remembered
and later be recalled and told as stories. Therefore requesting the
participants to recall and tell their intergenerational learning stories
Shawn (www.anecdote.com.au) pointed out that narrative was not
analysis. There could be many interpretations and no correct answers to
narratives. Rather, they should be used to identify patterns. The pattern
and behaviour of intergenerational learning happening between
Generation X parents and their Generation Y children are exactly what
this study aimed to investigate. It is not the intention of this study to
analyse the detail of the narratives or to give any judgements on the
content and the learning behaviour.
What is a Theory? What is a Definition?
A theory is a systematic explanation for observations related to a
particular aspect of life (Babbie, 2004). Theories explain the
observations by means of concepts. Concepts are abstract elements
representing classes of phenomenon within the field of study. The
concepts are the ‘building blocks’ of the theory. The role of a theory is
to structure and codify already proven practices and behaviour. I think
we do practise learning all the time and everywhere even though we
‘intergenerational learning’ exist and happen even without well
recognized theories explaining their occurrence and relationships.
A definition gives the precise meaning of a word, phrase or term.
In defining concepts, we are imparting meanings. However, the form
which meaning takes can be unique for each person. I strongly feel that
to ‘define’ a concept will actually ‘confine’ ourselves to describing only
certain aspects of a particular idea. It is quite impossible for us to give
precise and at the same time comprehensive enough definitions for
concepts such as ‘learning’, ‘intergenerational learning’ or ‘lifelong
learning’. Despite these recognized limitations we will experience
when defining concepts, we still need to work with definitions and
meanings, so long as they are well declared and the usage is consistent,
before we change our interpretation. When doing studies, somehow we
need to give some operational definitions of the concepts we are going
to investigate. Nevertheless, we must be aware that we can always
change and re-visit our interpretation of the definitions. This exactly
As there is still no definite or universal accepted definition for
‘family learning’ or ‘intergenerational learning’, in order to describe it,
we might need to draw references from the definition of terminologies
such as ‘learning organizations’, ‘organizational learning’ and,
‘sociology of learning’ and ‘lifelong leaning’, etc. Besides, there is not
yet an established theory on ‘learning families’ or ‘intergenerational
family learning’ for us to explain the phenomenon or make predictions.
A model is a mental picture that helps us to visualize or understand
concepts in which we cannot directly experience on schema. It is the
mental model that guides how we make decisions and take actions. Our
mental models are our subconscious knowledge set, which is shaped by
language and discourse and are culturally specific. From this study, I
hope to build a learning family model so that better understanding of