Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons^™

The Researcher As Autobiographer: Analysing Data Written About Oneself, Colleen Tenni, Anne Smith, Carlene Boucher

The Qualitative Report

This paper explores some of the issues that arise when one is dealing with data that has been produced by the researcher about their own experience. In particular, we are interested in exploring the ways that researchers can go about analyzing autobiographical data. Many researchers produce data that is autobiographical. Ethnographers produce field notes. Action Researchers often write about their own practice. Phenomenologists, sociologists and historians may write narratives that are autobiographical. There is a growing trend for researchers working in a range of settings to view themselves simultaneously being both a subject (or the subject) and a researcher. Data …