Desafios e possibilidades da pesquisa autoetnográfica

Abstract

This paper describes a qualitative research methodology with an interpretive framework based on social constructivism, in which the researcher seeks understanding of the world in which they live and work and develop subjective meanings of their experiences. In this context, we brought together procedures from autoethnography and ethnography, as well as techniques from discourse analysis, based on the idea that, in order to yield analyses, ethnographic studies require open procedures toward research, interactions with the investigated contexts, and inspiration drawn from different knowledge areas. This methodological breadth allowed us to focus on a single event—the process of adopting innovation in teaching and learning—compiling a detailed description of the individual dimension of a faculty member who shares the culture of a HEI, and the institutional dimension in which the member is located. The personal, social, and historical contexts, recounted by the research subjects who shared in that culture, provide a general overview of how that HEI’s institutional system works from a longitudinal perspective. The article focuses on an alternative data collection to replace the application of interviews, preserving the identity of the research subjects, and avoiding face-to-face exposure to the researcher or embarrassment when positioning their opinion before peers and managers. It deals with the selection of autoetnographic narratives that evoke ethnographic episodes of