ABSTRACT
Researchers represent consumers by transforming data into a research narrative. Initially the researcher transforms an observed reality into a data set by selecting and arranging observations. The researcher then transforms the data set through analysis and interpretation, constructing a conceptual frame or theoretical perspective. In the third transformation the researcher “re-presents” the consumer in a research narrative. We can view the observed reality, the data set, the frame, and the narrative as “texts” (see Geertz 1973; Hirschman and Holbrook 1992; Manning 1987) created by progressive transformations. As Atkinson points out in reference to ethnographic research, the further along in the process of transforming data into a written report, the thinner becomes the methodological and practical advice that is available (1992:4).
