---
id: wiki-2026-0508-autoethnography
title: Autoethnography
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [Auto-Ethnography, Self-Ethnography, Reflexive Ethnography]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.86
verification_status: applied
tags: [qualitative-research, ethnography, methodology, narrative, ux-research]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: Python
  framework: NVivo/Atlas.ti
---

# Autoethnography

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 self-as-instrument — 매 personal experience 의 cultural lens 의 X, 매 cultural lens through personal experience."**. Autoethnography 의 ethnography 의 first-person 의 reflexive variant — Carolyn Ellis / Tony Adams 의 1990s formalize. 매 2026 의 UX research / HCI / AI ethics 의 standard method (영향 the lived experience of bias, accessibility, AI use).

## 매 핵심

### 매 Types
- **Evocative**: literary, emotional, narrative-driven.
- **Analytic** (Anderson): theoretical contribution, research-oriented.
- **Interpretive**: meaning-making, hermeneutic.
- **Critical / performative**: activist, social-justice frame.

### 매 Method
1. **Field**: self in everyday context (often the researcher's own life domain).
2. **Data**: journal, photo, artifact, interview.
3. **Reflexivity**: position 의 explicit (gender, race, role).
4. **Layered analysis**: thick description + theoretical frame.
5. **Triangulation**: peer debrief, member check.

### 매 Validity Criteria
- **Substantive contribution** (Richardson).
- **Aesthetic merit**.
- **Reflexivity / honesty**.
- **Impact / resonance**.
- **Verisimilitude** (Ellis).

### 매 응용
1. UX research (researcher 의 own use experience).
2. AI ethics (LLM 의 daily use 의 lived account).
3. Disability studies (insider perspective).
4. Medical sociology (illness narrative).

## 💻 패턴

### Pattern 1 — Field journal template (Markdown)

```markdown
---
date: 2026-05-10
context: solo coding session, claude-opus-4-7
mood: 6/10
position: M, 32y, SWE, 8y exp
---

# Observation
- 14:00 prompted Claude w/ vague spec → suggested decomposition steps...
- 14:15 felt resistance to refactor; noticed "it's working, why touch"

# Reflection
- 매 sunk-cost feeling 의 cultural inheritance? Engineering pride?

# Theoretical link
- Norman 의 affordance / Schön 의 reflective practitioner.
```

### Pattern 2 — Coding (qualitative) — open coding

```python
codes = {
    "resistance-to-refactor": ["sunk cost", "it's working", "why touch"],
    "delegation-discomfort":  ["am I cheating", "is this me"],
    "flow-with-LLM":          ["pair programming", "thinking partner"],
}
```

### Pattern 3 — Layered narrative (analytic)

```markdown
## Vignette
[evocative narrative paragraph]

## Analysis
[theoretical interpretation: Schön reflective practice]

## Cultural connection
[broader: SWE identity in age of LLM agents]
```

### Pattern 4 — Member check (peer debrief)

```python
# Share excerpt with informant for response
checks = [
    {"excerpt": "...", "informant": "P3", "response": "yes resonates", "date": "2026-05-09"},
    {"excerpt": "...", "informant": "P5", "response": "I'd frame differently", "date": "2026-05-09"},
]
```

## 매 결정 기준

| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| Researcher 의 own lived domain | Autoethnography (insider) |
| Other community | Ethnography (outsider) + reflexivity |
| Quick UX insight | diary study + autoethnography hybrid |
| Theory contribution | Analytic autoethnography (Anderson) |
| Activist / community | Critical / performative |

**기본값**: Analytic autoethnography with peer debrief + member check.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[Ethnography]]
- 변형: [[Memoir]]
- 응용: [[AI-Ethics]]
- Adjacent: [[Autobiography]] · [[Grounded-Theory-Method]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: studying one's own use of tech / LLM, insider perspective on team or community, theoretical reflection.
**언제 X**: large-N generalization needed, double-blind requirement, no reflexivity training.

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Solipsism**: 매 self 의 only — no theoretical contribution.
- **No reflexivity**: position 의 unmark — bias hidden.
- **Cherry-picked vignette**: confirmation bias.
- **Skipping member check** in critical / community work.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (Ellis & Bochner, Anderson 2006, Adams et al. "Autoethnography" 2015).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — FULL content (types, validity criteria, 4 patterns) |