Autoethnography: A methodology to elucidate our own coaching practice

Abstract

When researching our own coaching practice there are a number of methodological choices we might make, action research being a common choice. This paper argues for an alternative methodology, the application of autoethnography to elucidate our practice and make explicit the deliberations, choices and motives that drive our actions and ‘theories in use’. This paper is based on personal experience of the first year of a three-year doctoral journey so focuses on decisions around research design rather than findings and may be of value to fellow coach researchers considering how they might effectively explore their own practice.

Keywords

• Action Research
• autoethnography
• practice-based research
• coaching practice
• methodology