Autoethnography is relate to ethnography, which is a recognized qualitative research method where a researcher uses participant observation and interviews in order to gain a deeper understanding of a group's culture, and can also help us to understand and/or theorize modes of human behavior within a group and across different groups. Often, but not always, the researcher is a member of the group in question rather than the traditional outsider ethnographer. As a variation of conventional ethnography (which has its roots in anthropology), autoethnography is now becoming more widely used (though controversial) in other disciplinary contexts, including performance studies, the sociology of new media, novels, journalism, and communication.