The failure to attain a true synthesis of six ethnographic studies of interracial education in desegregated schools is examined. Detailed individual descriptions of desegregation processes were yielded but the failure of summary attempts is attributed to the lack of a theory of social explanation appropriate to interpretive social science, and a…

During the 1979-80 academic year, a study was conducted to determine the beliefs and attitudes held by individuals in four groups (students, parents, teachers, and administrators) directly associated with the student activity program in a small Mississippi high school using ethnographic techniques. Ethnographic techniques involve the direct…

Two participant observers evaluated the week-long camp experience of adult women in order to assess the appropriateness of participant observation research methods in the camp setting, to identify strengths and weaknesses of this method, and to develop guidelines for its use. The study was part of a larger evaluation of the 9th annual Women's Week…

This paper describes the use of the ethnographer's perspective in applying research knowledge to the improvement of educational practice. The Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA) uses ethnographic methods to study problem solving in urban public schools. In the complicated culture of the urban school, social, economic and political…

Oral interviews with female teachers are used as the basis for an analysis of the personal, cultural, and social lives of women who taught in a small midwestern city during the 1930s. Portions of interviews with teachers are presented, and ethnographic theory and techniques used in the interviews are discussed. Analyses of the interviews focus on…

This report contains the field plan and implementation procedures which were utilized for the observational/focused ethnographic component of Head Start's Child and Family Mental Health (CFMH) Evaluation Project. The introductory section of the document provides the reader with an overview of the Head Start program, its mental health goals, the…

In third world countries a key to the course of nation building is the modernization of the organizational and administrative infrastructures that drive the development process. The focus of this paper is the ministry of education (MOE), an institution that has found its role changed dramatically since midcentury in most Latin American nations. In…

The document discusses a study to describe, analyze, and interpret the cultural climate of an elementary school in Texas which has a special fine arts program. Cultural climate is defined as the atmosphere that surrounds an arts program as defined by comments and actions of school administrators, art teachers, classroom teachers, students,…

This handbook contains activities and other resources to help students in grades 8 through 11 develop an understanding of and appreciation for the folk culture of the Arkansas Ozark. Intended to be used as the basic textbook for a semester course, the handbook can also be used as a supplemental text for a folklore or local history unit in English,…

This paper is directed at describing the informal promotion process utilized in large urban school districts and the effect of in-house selection on minority individuals and women. The sponsor-protege process (the informal promotion process of large urban school districts) and socialization (the psychological dimension of promotion) are discussed.…

Using Hawaii as an example, this framework for studying a culture focuses on understanding how people solve the problems of living. Intended for elementary school students, the guide is presented in three chapters. Chapter I defines goals and methods of cultural studies. Five concepts that students should understand are that we are all born into…

This report represents a synthesis of data related to the impact of the Parent Education Follow Through (PEFT) Program in the Yakima (Washington) School District. It was compiled from reviews of written documents and interviews with both model sponsor staff and parents, teachers, community leaders and others within the Yakima School District. The…

Ethnomethodological research involves participation in the field, with some degree of social interaction, with the subjects of the study; direct observation of relevant events; some formal and a great deal of informal interviewing; systematic counting; collection of documents and artifacts; and flexibility in the direction the study takes. This…

This analysis seeks to link discourse structure and semantic or lexical systems. The example is given of a Cuna curing chant named "the way of the pepper," in which 53 names for pepper ("kapur") are used in a projection of a paradigmatic axis (the lexical taxonomy) onto a syntagmatic axis. A corollary of the principle of…

Presents two differing perspectives on materials in Human Relations Area Files (HRAF), which provides ethnographic data to member institutions on paper slips or microfilm cards: focus on HRAF and supporting tools as data retrieval system; practical promise and limitations of HRAF materials as they relate to African cultures. (11 references) (EJS)