Exploring normative complexity: (How) does the life history interview work in child welfare research?:

In this article, we shed light on the importance of addressing normative complexity when conducting life history research with marginalized respondents, who experience multiple needs and complex problems. We analyse 74 life history interviews with parents who are in contact with child welfare services in Norway, and who challenge what is considered an 'ordinary' life course. Data were collected from 2010 to 2012 in connection with the project The New Child Welfare Services. We perform a content analysis of a smaller selection of interviews followed by a visual analysis of the transcripts. Applying a class perspective, the ways in which parents' life histories emerge in a narrative interview setting are explored. The article shows that although the aim of the life history interview is to empower respondents to construct their own life histories, this might be difficult to achieve in interview settings where the respondents are marginalized. Some of the respondents did not perceive life as flawless from beginning to end, as they encountered several obstacles and what they considered to be new beginnings. Another aim of the life history interview is the search for coherency; however, the respondents who experienced the most complex problems expressed difficulties in speaking coherently about their life histories. Based on our analysis, the article stresses awareness to the normative complexity in all phases of data collection when interviewing marginalized respondents who do not necessarily fit into the life history format within the narrative tradition, which was more common for middle-class respondents.