Richard Hoggart calls for "creative reading"--meaning "recognizing that some books are better than others." Those influenced by Paulo Freire call for "critical reading," meaning that what matters is that readers are encouraged to "read the word and the world." Hoggart and Freire give a clear idea of what…

An ethnographic study narrated three tales about a soup kitchen for the homeless and the near-homeless. To provide a cultural, ethnographic analysis, and share fieldwork experiences the study began with realist and confessional tales. These two tales emerged from the initial writing and presenting of the soup kitchen ethnography to qualitative…

DuBois' scholarly efforts from 1894 to 1915 provided social science with its first acceptable and comprehensive analysis of Afro-American culture. DuBois should be viewed not only as the foremost pioneer of Black Studies but also as one of the founders of American social sciences. (CMG)

Issues of reliability and validity in ethnographic design are compared to their counterparts in experimental design. Threats to the credibility of ethnographic research are summarized and categorized. Strategies intended to enhance credibility (study design, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of findings) are incorporated throughout…

Presents comparative study of patterns of language use related to books in three literate communities in southeastern United States, focusing on bedtime story reading. Results show inadequacy of prevalent dichotomy between oral and literate traditions and of unilinear models of child language development and dichotomies between types of cognitive…

Points out that teaching writing with a process style and conducting in-class research may be inherently incompatible activities. (JL)

Using an evaluation of the Teacher Corps as a case study, discusses the value of ethnographic studies in policy research and the types of policy statements that emerge from such studies. (ST)

A synthesis is presented of the work of Lindblom and Cohen, MacDonald and Walker, and the current authors. The synthesis considers issues in the usefulness of social science theory and research, and how observer roles in qualitative field studies yield multiple kinds of usable knowledge to a variety of audiences. (Author/BW)

Explores the roles that interpretation plays in qualitative research and theory building and considers three types of interpretation: patterning, social meanings, and external considerations. Also explores criteria for judging interpretations, and the issues of objectivity/subjectivity and universality/generalizability of interpretive science.…

The results of an ethnographic study of adolescent interethnic relations among Chinese-Canadians, Italian-Canadians, and Anglo-Canadians are reported in this article. Ethnic density proved a better predictor of the number of close out-group friendships than did a child's particular ethnic group membership. (Author/DB)

Describes the fusion of cultural inheritance and imaginative innovation in the literary works of Native American authors and urges scholars not to view such works solely from an ethnographic perspective. (DD)

Contrasts the situation of the French language and of sociolinguistic research in France and in Canada. (AM)

Results of this study indicate that the relationship between economic productivity of females and the occurrence of polygyny is different in different types of economic systems. Extant theories are too simplistic to explain these differences. Suggestions are made for further theoretical development which involves integration of several previous…

Using sociolinguistic methods (discourse analysis) and ethonography, examines the continuous, inprocess relationship between everyday talk and school leadership at a Louisiana elementary school. Demonstrates how administrative talk shapes and is shaped by a school's context and why moral leadership is tenuous and problematic. The real challenge…

Discusses and defines participatory or user-design in the fields of instructional design and performance technology and describes systemic change as a context for user-design. Topics include stakeholder involvement, ethnographic field methods, cooperative design, action research-based user-design, user-design decision guidelines, and leadership.…