Apply narrative research methods to understand human experience through stories, analyzing narrative structure, temporality, and meaning-making in life stories and oral histories.
SkillScore96Maintained
Automatic
◆Research pack
Last verified 8/28/2026
What it changes
Passed 22 of 23 test cases with the skill, and 14 of 23 without it.
Without skill61%
With skill96%
Checks it passed that the model alone missed
The narrative structure section includes a markdown table.
The output formats the Narrator Profile using bullet points.
The response requires a numbered list for the implications section.
and 5 more in the full report
8 fixed14 passed either way1 still failing0 broke
Pass-rate lift
+35 pp
Tokens
+23%
Agent turns
0%
Response time
-23%
Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/28/2026v122 of 23 cases passed with skill
Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.
See it in action
One of 8 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.
1 of 8
Prompt
I've attached an interview transcript with a mid-career professional named Elena discussing her transition from corporate law to secondary education. Please conduct a narrative research analysis on this transcript. I need a full narrative analysis document that details her narrator profile, breaks down the story's structural components into a clean summary table, evaluates how she positions her identity and agency against dominant cultural narratives, examines turning points and causal connections in her timeline, and provides the broader implications of her account for understanding professional transitions.
What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked
Without skill
With skill
The output formats the Narrator Profile using bullet points.
Missed
Passed
The output refrains from fragmenting the transcript into thematic codes.
Passed
Passed
case-01 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/28/2026 · answers are capped and redacted
What's inside
The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.
SKILL.md113 linessingle file
Narrative Research
Overview
Narrative research studies human experience through the stories people tell about their lives. Stories are not merely reports of events but active constructions of meaning — organizing experience temporally, assigning causality, and shaping identity. The methodology preserves the wholeness of narratives rather than fragmenting them, attending to structure (how the story is told), content (what is told), and context (why and to whom).
When to Use
Understanding how individuals make sense of pivotal life events or transitions
Exploring identity construction and transformation over time
Studying how cultural, organizational, or political narratives shape experience
When temporal sequence and context are essential to understanding the phenomenon
When NOT to Use
When the phenomenon is not experiential or temporal (use conceptual analysis)
When participants cannot or prefer not to narrate their experience
When the goal is to extract discrete variables or test causal hypotheses
When cross-sectional snapshot data is sufficient
Assumptions
IRON LAW: In narrative research, the STORY is the unit of analysis —
fragmenting narratives into coded themes destroys the temporal and
contextual meaning. If you reduce stories to thematic codes, you are
doing thematic analysis, NOT narrative research.
Key assumptions:
Humans are storytelling beings — narrative is the primary way we organize experience
Stories are situated performances — shaped by audience, context, and purpose
Temporality is constitutive — meaning emerges from the sequence and connection of events
The researcher is a co-constructor of the narrative through the interview relationship
Methodology
Step 1: Elicit the Narrative
Conduct narrative interviews using a single generative question (e.g., "Tell me the story of..."). Allow the narrator to structure the telling. Avoid interrupting with probes until the main narrative is complete. Collect life stories, oral histories, or episode-specific narratives depending on the research focus.