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Part III. Digital Media and Storytelling in Research According to Jerome Bruner (1986), the tvo modes of cognition, narrative and paradigmatic, are distinct. Ten years later, Bruner (1996) added to this basic thesis by claiming that the process of science in general is narrative since scientific speculation follows the same structure as storytelling. Research hypotheses arise in the researcher which are tested using certain instruments; after the results of the measurements have been evaluated the researcher refines previous assumptions, and with the conclusion, a new order is established. Ihe narrative schema is thus seen as universal and can be interpreted at all levels of human thought and communication. Storytelling is a highly adaptive means of knowledge and culture transfer. Expressing oneself in narrative form and understanding the narratives of others is key to successful communication. Narrative representations and the process of storytelling are used in research practices in many disciplines as they provide insights into deep layers of human thought and behavior while also revealing the transformative social, economic, and cultural effects of narrative. In research methodology, narratives are primarily seen as sources which can be analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods appropriate to the research objectives. Other areas of research study the impact of narratives using different measurement tools. The third group of research approaches, however, view storytelling as an arts-based participatory research method and considers both the research process as well as the narrative artifact as objects of analysis. For the analysis of narrative structures and processes, phenomenological, constructivist, and hermeneutic research approaches are all relevant (Haigh, 2017). Especially in the case of autobiographical narratives, such as digital stories or oral history narratives, an interpretative phenomenological approach to analysis is particularly attractive, as it interprets individual experiences not in themselves but in the context perceived by the individual. The aim of this research approach is to gain as much insight as possible into individual experiences and, to this end, the data provider is considered the greatest expert on his or her own life events (Kassai, Pintér & Racz, 2017). A hermeneutic approach can also be used to interpret life story narratives that emerge in the research process. The hermeneutic circle is based on the
