A research team approach was selected for an ethnographic project to identify those variables that influenced the adult beginning readers' acquisition of reading strategies and their effect on reading achievement. Weekly staff meetings focused on (1) identifying initial conceptualization and emerging foci reflected in the data, and (2) continually adjusting the research roles to obtain a valid data base for the topic under study. The diversity evident within the team was especially emphasized in what each researcher initially noticed and in the questions each pursued upon returning to the investigative site. Several problems also arose with summary observations and interpretive asides that focused on teacher behaviors, general student behaviors and attitudes, and learning-to-read behaviors--the amount of student oral reading depended upon the teacher and not all researchers could code equally well the wider variations in reading behaviors. Establishing and maintaining the trust of the adult beginning readers was a continuous task. Perhaps the greatest cultural shock was the amount of planning required to use the diverse conceptual frameworks and skills of the researchers. Another cultural shock was that cooptation by the researchers and reverse cooptation by the center's staff produced different results. Nevertheless, the team approach did offer a means to resolve methodological issues, to use multiple research skills and roles, and to obtain a comprehensive data base. (HOD)