Wells writes about narrative inquiry from the perspective of social sciences and specifically social work. However, the most useful part of her book relates to the ways that discourse analysis and narrative analysis can be used productively in relation to one another. In Appendix 1 on pg. 125-126, she outlines various approaches. The analytic focus for most of the approaches is on narrative structure, but the last two (Critical Narrative Analysis and Contextual Discursive Analysis) consider narrative in context and incorporate discourse analytic methods and concepts into the narrative inquiry.
Emerson and Frosh's study given as an example focuses on an individual - a sexually abusive boy - while Squire's study requires immersion in issues with HIV participants, communities, and policy documents in South Africa. Their definitions of narrative are respectively "a relatively coherent personal story, with a beginning, middle, and an end, that is co-constructed [possibly embedded in long stretches of talk between an interviewer and interviewee] by an interviewee and interviewer in relation to foci on which an investigation is to focus" and "a story of a specific event or of a broad condition, which unfolds over time and with consequence within a specific social cultural milieu" (101, 106). Both of these definitions and approaches underlyingly assume narratives to be co-constructed and performative and less formulaic than earlier approaches.
| Analytic Focus | Source | Central Question | Major Concepts |
| Holistic Content | Lieblich, Tubal-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998 | What is the core pattern in the life story? | Global impression, theme, early memory |
| Narrative Identity | McAdams, 1993 | What identity is constructed in the life story? | Narrative tone, personal imagery, thematic lines, ideological settings, pivotal scenes, and conflicting protagonists |
| Shared Narrative | Shay, 1994 | What is the meaning of a shared experience to a group? | Common themes, themes in relation to a common story, common story in relation to a fictional story |
| Sequence of Clauses | Labov, 1972 | How can a narrative e identified in the flow of talk? | elements of a narrative, types of evaluation clauses |
| Poetic Structure | Gee, 1991 | What is a defensible interpretation of a narrative? | Levels of textual structure |
| Surface-Deep Structure | Gregg, 2006 | How is identity represented in discourse in relation to its structure and implicit plot? | Bi-polar contrasts in relation to self, others, and events; mediating terms; episodic-plot structure; and foundational contrast and mediating term |
| Critical Narrative Analysis | Emerson & Frosh, 2004) | How does this person, in this context, get to give teh account he or she does? | Organization of narrative as speech, plot, subject, and focus |
| Contextual Discursive Analysis | Squire, 2007 | How do individuals use and remake teh representational forms on which they draw in order to tell the stories of their lives? | Genre, audience, symbolic representation |
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