In an experiment in distance education conducted at the University of Lund, Sweden, students taking a course in educational technology studied at home with the aid of correspondence material. To help the students, telephone instruction with a tutor was provided. Each telephone conversation was recorded as part of the study. Students had positive opinions about the telephone aspect of the course. They knew that their calls were recorded, but this did not affect them negatively. The telephone calls were interpreted using two different methods of content analysis, and it was found that the most common problems for students on home study were of a limited subject-matter nature actualized by the tutor. Practical, organizational, and administrative problems actualized by the students were of secondary importance. (CH)