Autoethnography and reflective practice: reconstructing the doctoral thesis experience

Abstract

In this paper I reflect on my doctoral thesis experience, writing over a year after completion of my studies. After giving background about my own professional context as a medical educator I briefly present the key findings of my doctoral thesis. I then move on to construct a chronology of the key events in the time after completing my thesis and reflect upon these events to explore questions about the following: whether my thesis was a piece of autoethnography; the relationship between autoethnography and reflective practice; and the implications of these deliberations upon my work as an educator and educational researcher. I close by presenting some conclusions about interview approaches in educational research, the power of institutions in shaping research outcomes and the value and place of narrative in academic writing.

Keywords:

• autoethnography
• reflective practice
• doctoral thesis

Acknowledgements

The author would like to acknowledge the support of Health Education Wessex (formerly Wessex Deanery) for their support with tuition fees for years 1‒3 of the EdD and the helpful comments of Dr Roger Elmer and Dr Mike Hayler on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.