Educational Psychology Consideration of Life-history Research

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to explore the meaning of a life-history research which has become an important research method in the educational field. Life-history is a history of one\'s experience which shows one\'s perspective, life situation and understandings of one\'s life. In this point of view, life-history research is another form of a personal record such as autobiography, biography, diary, letter, etc. On the other hand, life-history research is a result of a researcher\'s involvement, which is based on self-reflection in the case where the object is personal. This differentiates the research from other forms of personal records. This also means that life-history research is embedded in culture and history. In this study, the general meaning of life-history research, along with life-history research on curriculum, lifelong education and educational psychology were analyzed. Furthermore, a few suggestions on adopting life-history research in the educational psychology field were made according to this analysis.