ABSTRACT
Data analysis is at the center of research endeavors, whether qualitative or quantitative research. When analyzing and interpreting autoethnographic data, we need to keep in mind one important point: what makes autoethnography ethnographic is its intent of gaining a cultural understanding. Ethnographers look for cultural themes with which they organize the mess of information. Cultural data analysis and interpretation are also quintessential to autoethnography because this process transforms bits of autobiographical data into a culturally meaningful and sensible text. In the simplest terms, analysis tends to dissect a data set whereas interpretation urges researchers to connect fractured data. According to Maxwell, fracturing is part of the data analysis called 'categorizing' that refers to two main activities 'coding' and 'organizing' data. The zoom-in approach refers to the 'microscopic' analysis of data through which we pay attention to details, probe into small segments at a time, and keep a focus on one data set at a time.
