Autobiographies or Portraits? Methodological Differences in Qualitative Social Research

Abstract The author considers methodological differences in the use of autobiographies. However, while doing so, he does not focus on technical differences in the application of the method but asks about cognitive possibilities that come (or not) with certain methodological tools. It is through this perspective (epistemological capacity of theory and empirical knowledge) that the author discusses the difference between two very close and yet so separate methods of research: sociological autobiography and anthropological portrait. He refers to Florian Znaniecki’s methodological guidelines and juxtaposes them with other important sociological works. Analysing Znaniecki’s method, he finds elements that make it seem closer to anthropological portrait. This approach is to encourage the readers to look at the method in a different way – as something secondary to the accurate definition of the socio-cultural context for the studied phenomena.