This description of the author's research (an ethnographic case study of an adult education center) is used to illustrate the difficulties and divisions between work-based practitioners and university researchers. Other issues include the influence of equal opportunity considerations, ethics and collaborative research, and participant observation…

The emotional experience of one teacher was studied in depth using phenomenological interviews and participant observation. The teacher experienced a variety of emotions generated when the instructional dynamics of the lesson were congruent or incongruent with his professional practical knowledge, and a compelling emotional state of "being a…

This study examined the integration of "leisure" into the ideology of Alcoholics Anonymous. Participant-observation and in-depth interviews found parallels between the concept of sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous and philosophical ideals of leisure both as conditions of freedom from compelled activity and freedom to engage in meaningful…

Discusses the meaning of being a teacher-researcher, emphasizing the need to involve teachers in research to link theory and practice and noting how participant observation helps them inquire into practice. Practitioner-researcher examples from teachers involved in a graduate research course are presented. The cases support and explicate…

Based on experiences in working with school district staff, suggestions for enhancing evaluation use through stakeholder involvement are discussed in terms of who should be involved, when involvement should occur, and how stakeholders should be involved via a dialogue-dependent process. (SLD)

Describes a method of teaching fieldwork in cultural anthropology classes by having students do an ethnosemantic exercise on a card game of their choice. Through this experience, students learn how to do simple forms of fieldwork, the emic perspective, and componential analysis. (Author)

Discusses education of multiply handicapped children, especially those with visual impairments. Reviews literature relative to previous studies in this area, focusing on participant observation as a suitable and useful means of assessing multiply disabled populations. Provides a basis for advocating qualitative measures over quantitative ones in…

This case study investigated the introduction of a theme from popular culture into a sociodramatic role-play area in a northern England Nursery Infant school, focusing on its effects on 6- to 7-year olds' literacy activities. Findings indicated that the incorporation of themes from popular culture into the curriculum motivated children whose…

Describes how a comparative study of street children in Montevideo (Uruguay), Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City contributes to a synergism between theory and method. Notes how theoretical approaches of symbolic interactionism, genetic structuralism, and habitus theory complement interview, participant observation, and content analysis methods;…

Participant observations and key informant interviews were used in three case studies, each case corresponding to a different degree of researcher involvement in a Canadian school district's participatory evaluation. The contextual differences observed are discussed, and the usefulness of the approach to studying evaluation methods is described.…

Describes and analyzes how context acts as a resource for and a constraint upon the personal experience narratives of educators. Examines a teacher's story told in a support group for democratic educators. Illustrates the role that context has on storytelling, how teacher-narrators interpret/act upon context, and how context constrains a story.…

A study of beginning administrators in a school district reveals that they receive contradictory messages about school leadership. Although the school district emphasizes collaborative, facilitative leadership through documents and orientation of new administrators, bureaucratic, political, and identity-based messages reinforce traditional…

This paper examines some intersections among school literacy events and practices, identity formation, and the institutional practice known in the US as tracking. During a year-long, critical ethnographic study to examine how a team-taught, interdisciplinary curriculum impacted the development of students' literacies, it was found that not only…

Background: Although preservice teachers bring well-established views of teaching to their teacher education programs, Tabachnick and Zeichner (1984) claimed that it is possible to amend preservice teachers' views. They portrayed the learning of teachers as a negotiated and interactive process rather than as one that is predetermined by teachers'…

Reflecting on the practice of qualitative literacy research, this book presents 14 essays that address the most pressing questions faced by qualitative researchers today: how to represent others and themselves in research narratives; how to address ethical dilemmas in research-participant relations; and how to deal with various rhetorical,…