In anticipation of providing a baseline of competencies on which teachers and school researchers could build, an ethnographic study was conducted of the communicative competencies of kindergarten children as revealed in spontaneous speech occurring across entire school days. Nonparticipant and, occasionally, participant observation methods were…

This paper explores the variety of qualitative methods available, in the context of a larger quantitative-qualitative debate in the field of educational evaluation. Each approach is reviewed in terms of the work of its major proponents. The dominant forms of qualitative evaluation include: (1) ethnography; (2) naturalistic inquiry; (3) generic…

Nine authors contributed to a three part bulletin inviting research in social education. Part 1, Research Perspectives, contains chapters one and two: (1) "The Invitation" (Catherine Cornbleth) and (2)"Paradigm and Purpose" (Thomas S. Popkewitz). Part 2, "Research Alternatives, has chapters three through eight: (3) "Survey Research" (Dennie L.…

This report shares insights on varied experiences in action research at the university level and describes methods for involving subjects in research. Examples used include case histories of two projects: the Projet de recherche et d'intervention a la maison (PRIM), a research project on home intervention; and the Ford Teaching Project. Based on…

The use of metaphors to frame problems and gain insight into educational phenomena has received little attention in the literature. This study shows that principals' use of metaphoric language to discuss their work environment and instructional leadership roles is a valid means of understanding school administrator behavior. The study focused on…

Panola County, Texas Sheriff Corbett Akins wrote a weekly column for the "Panola Watchman" in which he chronicled the adventures and mishaps of his force. He provides a wealth of information about East Texas life on everything from making fiddles, to running bloodhounds, to finding moonshine stills. The columns reprinted appeared from…

Ethnography is increasingly appealing to those who want to study their own literate society and their own discourse communities. As sensitivity to the role of context in the social construction of knowledge increases, ethnography is viewed as a particularly relevant approach for research in schools and classrooms. The participant observer, who is…

More than 80 anthropology source materials concentrating on cultural and social anthropology are cited in this annotated bibliography. Materials, located in the McLennan Library at McGill University (Montreal), are listed according to type of material. Library of Congress call numbers are presented; dates of publication range from 1950 to 1985.…

This is a report on a study of two junior high schools in a small Midwestern city called "Avon". This industrial community serves an agricultural region. This study was undertaken as a complement to a study of two other junior high schools in a much less ordinary community and school system ("Canton") which had been previously studied. This report…

This perspective sees the value of the views presented in the volume on "Ethnography and Education" especially in the complementary sets of interests identified for ethnography and education. Some critical problems administrators and teachers face are reviewed and some recent and ongoing research activities designed to alleviate these problems are…

This annotated bibliography of sociolinguistics is divided into the following sections: speech events, ethnography of speaking and anthropological approaches to analysis of conversation; discourse analysis (including analysis of conversation and narrative), ethnomethodology and nonverbal communication; sociolinguistics; pragmatics (including…

This paper presents an ethnographic analysis of a controversial research project, the Putaney Study, as an argument for the involvement of anthropologists in research that is perceived to be potentially controversial. A research team from Putaney University initiated a research project to document the fertility attitudes and practices of 600…

The purpose of this dissertation, an ethnographic case study of white children attending an urban, public elementary school with a ninety percent black enrollment, is to examine their strategic adaptations and to gauge the effect of these adaptations on actual cross-racial interactions. The data were collected through participant and…

This paper discusses ethnography, ethnographic methodology, and how an ethnographic perspective can influence pedagogical decisions related to the teaching and evaluating of writing. A review of the research on writing as it relates to the individual writer's culture is presented and recommendations are made regarding the development of writing…

The potential uses of ethnography and aesthetic criticism as sources for developing a qualitative approach to evaluating classrooms are delineated. Such work involves three interrelated processes--description, interpretation, and appraisal--which are discussed and exemplified. When describing a classroom, the evaluator vividly renders it,…