These notes reflect the focus of 3DF research and is selective and at times interpretive of Ellis' text.

Autoethnography systematic sociological introspection emotional recall to understand lived experience, written as story, so that by "...exploring a particular life, I hope to understand a way of life" (Ellis, 2004, p.xvii) Definition Autoethnography refers to autobiographical texts which combine the introspective with a sensibility derived from cultural and ethnographic academic disciplines. Usually written in the first person, autoethnographic stories may take a variety of forms, but always highlight concrete action, dialogue, embodiment, spirituality and self-consciousness. In autoethnography, cultural structures are dramatically evoked through the actions, feelings and thoughts of characters within a dramatic narrative. "...social science autoethnographies usually contain citations to other academic disciplines and use disciplinary vocabularies..." (Ellis, 2004, p.39)

Autoethnography and qualitative research

Whereas ethnography is a social science research method using participant observation and interviews to investigate a human community, in autoethnography, the researcher is the primary research subject, reflexively writing personal stories and narratives. It is thus a term which has multiple meanings, also reflecting its diverse origins in literary criticism and in the social sciences and its increasing use as a subaltern pedagogy. In anthropology, for example, autoethnographic themes can be discerned within early works of ethnographic memoir and indigenous ethnography. Broadly speaking debates on the nature of autoethnography define it either as "insider ethnography" or as autobiography with an ethnographic interest (Reed-Danahay, 1997).

"Qualitative research falls roughly along a continuum ranging from an orientation akin to positivistic science to one similar to art and literature" (Ellis, 2004, p.27)

Impressionist/Expressive Social Science Evoking emotional experience in readers; Giving voice to marginalized; Producing work of high literary quality; Improving readers, participants and author's lives; Usually writing in first person; Author (in part or even wholly) the object of research; Single case study over time; Story with plot, character and storyline akin to biography/novel; Emotional experience is highlighted; Personal disclosure is valued; Development of relationships presented in dramatic form; Reflexive relationship between researcher and participant; Reader involvement and even participation.