This paper focuses on the data analysis stage of phenomenographic research, elucidating what is involved in terms of both commonality and variation in accepted practice. The analysis stage of phenomenographic research is often not well understood. This paper helps to clarify the process, initially by collecting together in one location the more concrete of the existing descriptions of phenomenographic analysis. The analytic process is then further elucidated by a unique analysis of variation in practice, based on the principles underlying that practice. This work was inspired by the ongoing efforts of John Bowden to clarify the nature and rigour of phenomenographic research methods, commencing in particular with Bowden and Walsh's volume in 1994.