From AUTO-ETHNO-GRAPHY to writing practice: developing and evaluating the Autoethnography Writing Framework (AWF)

Purpose This paper develops and evaluates the Autoethnography Writing Framework (AWF), a structured and dialogic approach designed to support the development of autoethnographic writing in collaborative academic contexts. Drawing on the established AUTO-ETHNO-GRAPHY formulation of autoethnographic craft, it addresses a methodological gap concerning how authors may be supported in producing reflexive, analytically robust and narratively coherent autoethnographic work. Design/methodology/approach An interpretive qualitative design was used to examine the application of the AWF within an edited collection of autoethnographic chapters of a book. Data were generated through questionnaires with two editors and eleven contributing authors. The dataset combined qualitative reflections with descriptive quantitative data and was analysed thematically to explore the framework's impact on writing practices, editorial feedback processes and authorial development. Findings The AWF enhanced clarity and supported structured engagement with autoethnographic writing, enabling deeper reflexivity, stronger integration of narrative and theory and increased confidence in writing. Feedback was experienced as dialogic, relational and developmental. However, participants and editors also identified tensions concerning the potential for structure to constrain interpretive openness if applied prescriptively. Originality/value The contribution of the paper lies not in proposing new dimensions of autoethnographic practice, but in operationalising established conceptual principles within a structured and dialogic developmental feedback framework. The AWF offers a practical resource for authors, supervisors, editors and reviewers seeking to support autoethnographic writing whilst remaining attentive to ongoing debates concerning structure, feedback and interpretive openness.