An ethnographic study examined illiterates and their understanding of literacy. The theoretical background of the study is based on the thesis of "contemporary orality": that India is a fundamentally oral culture that retains all the characteristics of primary orality (Walter Ong's term) through the use of speech as the dominant medium…

The term "dramaturgy" is derived from the notion of a theoretical performance. In the theater, the audience consents to temporarily suspend disbelief and unquestionably accepts the reality presented on stage. The actors, however, understand that the reality they present is constituted. This paper presents an ethnographic account and…

Journalists have some justification for dismissing scholarly inquiries into their craft because communication science does not take journalists and their craft seriously either. Empirical research into journalistic practices fails to take journalism seriously in the sense Jurgen Habermas outlined: meanings of news texts are described without…

The field of ethnography is expected to provide reliable, accurate information regarding some aspect of an unfamiliar culture. However, this contribtuion is only useful if the results are presented along with a description and critical evaluation of the context in which the data was obtained. An example of failure to do this is found in an…

In this commentary, the authors debate a number of issues associated with literacy and numeracy and with developing a "social" perspective on numeracy, particularly in relation to four points arising from Barwell's intervention: (1) the use of terms mathematics and numeracy; (2) the notion of text as it is applied to these domains; (3)…

Introduction: This paper discusses the role uncertainty plays in judgments of the meaning and significance of ideas and texts encountered by scholars in the context of their ongoing research activities. Method: Two experienced scholars were observed as part of a two-year ethnographic study of their ongoing research practices. Layered…

Based on the premise that the most viable form of discovery for the ethnographer is the personal essay--which has been called "the expression of the self thinking" (Alfred Kazin) or writing as learning and thinking--this paper examines the work of anthropologist Clifford Geertz in the light of that definition. Particular attention is…

A social organizational theory is outlined, and how types of data drawn from it may be useful in an evaluation context is indicated. Anthropological ethnography is proposed as a more powerful tool in those evaluations undertaken from a phenomenological perspective. Naturalistic/qualitative evaluation lacks a theoretical perspective on how groups…

Children's folklore, the traditional formalized play activities of children, includes such speech play as riddles, games, jokes, taunts, retorts, counting-out rhymes, catches, jump-rope rhymes and many other such forms of verbal art. An initial attempt is made to study children's folklore on its own terms, not as a mechanism of enculturation for…

The terms "rigor" and "relevance" most often surface in discussions of methodological adequacy. Assessing epistemological relevance is equivalent to answering the question, "Is this particular research question worth asking at all?" Epistemological rigor refers to the properties of a "researchable" problem.…

Noting that there is growing interest in systematic, ethnographic studies of mass media and their primary audiences (families), this paper seeks to encourage additional ethnographic study of audience behavior by discussing some theoretical concerns that bear on the qualitative research enterprise. To do this, the paper first introduces a variety…

Ethnography is coming to be much discussed in education. A definition of ethnography is, however, an elusive and complicated question. Anthropologists do not themselves have a unified conception of ethnography, especially of ethnography in relation to the study of institutions of our own society, such as education. One difficulty with the notion…

The phenomenological point of view is described, particularly the use of multiple realities as employed by sociologists to increase phenomenological understanding. Examples of applying the multiple reality approach to education are discussed. Part One is an introduction to the theme, "Phenomenology, Multiple Realities and Educational…

Reviews persistent criticisms of quantitative research methodologies such as the lack of isomorphism between measures and "reality," its failure to produce "truths" useful to educational practice, the faulty use of statistics, and the poorly understood notion of causality. (JDH)

Tested the cross-cultural validity of the affective arousal model for n Ach (Need for Achievement) employed by McClelland. The (Individual) Failure condition was not particularly salient in arousing the need for achievement of the Chinese teenagers sampled. Instead, they responded most favorably when the achievement demands were the least overt.…