Module 5.1

A children's song and dance, Ring around the Rosie, is traceable back to at least 1790 in the United States and 1796 in Germany. It was widely held that it was a reference to one of the last outbreaks of the bubonic plague (The Black Death that struck England in the 1660s). Some folklorists disputed the connection, though this belief in the song and dance's origin was widespread. Assume you were alive in 1790 in England and attempted to find the origins of that song and dance. Would you have chosen narrative inquiry, content analysis, or historic analysis as your methodology? Why?

Module 5.2

A researcher is planning to conduct a narrative study on the way non-traditional learners define their social role on the college campus. After this, the researcher would then construct his/her narrative of the study, using such storytelling conventions as scene, characters, and plot. Discuss the data collection instruments appropriate for this study. How would a narrative approach differ from a phenomenological approach for this topic?