Beyond one voice: Co-constructed analytic auto-ethnography

© Oxford University Press 2018. All rights reserved. Steve Kempster and Ken Parry introduce an unconventional research design and data collection method called co-constructed analytic auto-ethnography. This is based on a collaborative partnership between researcher and participant. The collaboration first involves an in-depth exploration of the participant's socially constructed experience. The approach then reaches beyond that experience by testing the resonance of the insights generated with those of others who have been through similar experiences. Co-constructed analytic auto-ethnography can thus explore subjects that are difficult to access with traditional qualitative and quantitative methods. The approach is illustrated by a study that involved a collaboration between an academic and a senior manager, exploring the inter-related phenomena of emotional labour and authenticity in leadership practice. Dismissing criticism of auto-ethnography as 'confessional tales', the chapter concludes that this is a rigorous, insightful, and valuable research approach.