Walking Toward the Demonumentalization of Qualitative Research: A Collaborative Autoethnography Account While Producing an Educational Podcast

Abstract

This article examines how two teacher educators, as researchers and as research teachers, engaged in a collaborative interpretation of their autoethnographies about questioning an instrumentalist and positivist research culture in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). The autoethnographies simultaneously emerged from the research activities related to the production of a bilingual podcast named “Conversing about "Investigación Cualitativa.” Specifically, the authors conducted a qualitative study of autoethnographic and collaborative nature while working on their podcast. The data were individual written retrospective accounts, which were shared, discussed, and interpreted in online live meetings. The outcomes of the study were encapsulated in a major theme called Qualitative research: The path traveled from dogma to critical awareness, and three subsidiary themes named Questioning the culture of scientificity from our research experiences; Adopting a critical perspective (but still teaching by the book); and Empowering ourselves as teachers and as research teachers. Overall, this study emphasized a questioning attitude toward building a critical perspective from which examine alternatives to demonumentalize qualitative research without falling into extremes. Thus, it contributes to finding a balance between dogma and skepticism through a dialogue between local and global research agendas.