Comparer des méthodes

	Recherche critique sur l'histoire de vie	Ethnographie critique
Domaine	Qualitatif	Qualitatif
Famille	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Année d'origine	1980s–1990s	Late 20th century (~1980s–1993 systematisation)
Auteur d'origine	Ivor Goodson; influenced by critical theory traditions (Freire, Habermas, feminist scholars)	Jim Thomas (systematised); rooted in Frankfurt School critical theory (Adorno, Horkheimer) and feminist/postcolonial traditions
Type	Qualitative research design	Qualitative research method
Source fondatrice	Goodson, I. F., & Sikes, P. (2001). Life History Research in Educational Settings: Learning from Lives. Open University Press. ISBN: 978-0335205530	Thomas, J. (1993). Doing Critical Ethnography. Sage Publications.
Alias	critical biographical research, critical life history, critical life history method, critical biographical inquiry	critical ethnographic research, critical qualitative ethnography, advocacy ethnography, emancipatory ethnography
Apparentées	6	6
Résumé	Critical life history research combines the biographical depth of life history methodology with critical theory perspectives — drawing on feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, or critical race frameworks — to examine how structural power relations, social inequalities, and institutional forces shape individual lives. Rather than treating a life story as a purely personal account, this approach reads it as evidence of wider social and political conditions, using individual narratives to surface systemic patterns of oppression, resistance, and agency.	Critical ethnography is a qualitative research approach that combines sustained fieldwork immersion with explicit critical theory to examine how power, inequality, and ideology shape the lived experiences of marginalised communities. Unlike conventional ethnography, which aims to describe a culture as it is, critical ethnography commits the researcher to questioning what is taken for granted and to producing knowledge that can serve as a resource for social change. Rooted in Frankfurt School critical theory and expanded through feminist, postcolonial, and race-critical traditions, it treats the research process itself as a political act.