A multiple-method study of junior high school teachers' beliefs and classroom behavior focused on teachers' perceptions of teaching tasks and processes, on how their beliefs and behavior are shaped, and on constraints by outside influences. These influences, which make up the context of teaching, include organizational and community influences on teaching, constraints arising from the nature of the students being taught, and constraints originating in the task structures of the classroom organization. Data for the study were gathered during the 1982-83 and 1983-84 school years. Eight teachers in 3 schools were observed, videotaped, and extensively interviewed over a 12 week period. The conceptual framework, design, methodology, and analysis scheme for the study are described. Extensive reviews of research on teachers' beliefs, attributional processes, and decision-making strategies, as well as reviews of research on contextual influences on teachers' actions in the clasroom, are included. Various methodological approaches to the study of teacher beliefs are reviewed, and rationales for the selection of study methodologies are provided. (JD)