Methoden vergleichen

	Vergleichende Biographieforschung	Lebensgeschichtsforschung
Fachgebiet	Qualitativ	Qualitativ
Familie	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Entstehungsjahr	1970s–1980s	Early 20th century (Thomas & Znaniecki 1918–1920); systematised as interview method in the 1990s
Urheber	Daniel Bertaux; Paul Thompson	William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki (sociological tradition); Robert Atkinson (interview method)
Typ	Qualitative comparative research design	Qualitative research method
Wegweisende Quelle	Bertaux, D. (Ed.). (1981). Biography and Society: The Life History Approach in the Social Sciences. Sage. ISBN: 978-0803914025	Atkinson, R. (1998). The Life Story Interview. Sage. ISBN: 978-0761904496
Aliasnamen	comparative biography, cross-case biographical analysis, biographical comparative method, comparative life-story research	life history method, life-history interview, biographical research, personal narrative research
Verwandt	6	6
Zusammenfassung	Comparative biographical research is a qualitative design that gathers in-depth life-story accounts from multiple participants and systematically compares them to identify structural patterns, commonalities, and divergences across individual biographies. Rooted in the sociological life-history tradition, it moves beyond single-case description to generate broader theoretical insights about how social conditions, historical contexts, and personal agency shape individual trajectories.	Life history research is a qualitative method that captures the full arc of an individual's life — or a significant portion of it — through extended biographical interviewing and analysis of personal documents. Rooted in early Chicago School sociology, the method treats each life story as a window into broader social, cultural, and historical forces. The researcher and participant co-construct a narrative account that illuminates how personal experience is shaped by, and in turn shapes, wider social structures and processes.