Today I officially closed my autistic-adult questionnaire and moved into the analysis stage of my primary research.

The final dataset contains 10 participants: 8 female and 2 male respondents, with ages ranging from 18 to 64. All participants completed the full set of open-ended questions, giving me a qualitative dataset focused on independence, international travel experiences, barriers, support needs and difficult stages of the airport journey.

Before beginning analysis, I first needed to make sure the dataset was organised correctly. I checked that each participant response was clearly separated and that there were no duplicate entries. This was particularly important because an earlier version of my dataset contained a duplicated response, so I wanted to make sure the final set of 10 participants represented 10 unique responses.

Why I am closing the questionnaire now

The purpose of this research was not to create statistically representative data about all autistic adults, but to collect detailed lived-experience accounts that could help me understand patterns, differences and barriers within independent international travel.

The responses are varied, but there are already recurring areas around things such as:

• security
• predictability and preparation
• navigation and wayfinding
• sensory environments
• asking for help
• reliance on other people
• changes to plans
• access to clear information

However, I do not want to treat these as final themes yet. The next stage is to analyse the responses systematically rather than simply selecting the points that seem most noticeable to me.

Reflexive Thematic Analysis

I have chosen to use Braun and Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis to analyse the qualitative responses.

The first stage will be familiarising myself with the full dataset and beginning to create initial codes. A code is a short label that captures something meaningful within a participant’s response.

For example, if a participant says:

“I panic in security incase the alarms go off”

I might initially code this as:

fear of unexpected security outcome

Although both responses relate to security, they are not necessarily describing exactly the same problem. This is why I do not want to begin with a predetermined theme called simply “security”. Instead, I want to understand what specifically makes security difficult, and then see whether those codes connect with wider patterns across the dataset.

What I am doing today

My tasks are:

1. Close and organise the dataset

• Confirm 10 final participants.
• Keep each participant’s responses together.
• Assign anonymous participant numbers such as P01–P10.
• Save one untouched copy of the original data before making analysis notes.

2. Check the data

• Make sure every participant is unique.
• Check for duplicated or accidentally repeated responses.
• Make sure each answer is attached to the correct participant.

3. Begin first-cycle coding

• Read each participant from beginning to end.
• Highlight anything relevant to the research question.
• Give each meaningful section a short code.
• Stay close to what the participant actually says.
• Avoid deciding themes in advance.
• Keep unusual or contradictory responses rather than ignoring them.

So far i am keeping up with my daily timetable i set myself in order to keep up with all my deadlines.