Reflecting on the practice of qualitative literacy research, this book presents 14 essays that address the most pressing questions faced by qualitative researchers today: how to represent others and themselves in research narratives; how to address ethical dilemmas in research-participant relations; and how to deal with various rhetorical,…

This document consists of short reviews of 13 Ohio schools. The goal is to illustrate each school's atmosphere and members through a report made by an education expert who actually visited the school, as opposed to a statistical report. Interviews of students and teachers are included, as are impressions of reform methods being used in the school,…

The ways in which teachers and administrators manage their time is the focus of this four-part study, which includes: (1) an introductory overview of a 1984 study of K-12 teachers' use of time; (2) a study of special education teachers' use of time in two counties in Georgia; (3) a study of successful elementary principals' time budgeting; and (4)…

The literature on the practice of educational evaluation is reviewed, and internal and external evaluations in a school setting are compared. The paper states that the typical external evaluation is conducted as if school districts were rational organizations, a view which permeated 19th century evaluation activities. The internal evaluator, on…

After a review of the literature on cognitive "cause maps" in organizational decision-making, this study describes a midwestern elementary school from the perspective of individual sensemaking, captured through individual cognitive maps of cause-effect relationships. Data were collected with an adaptation of Bougon's (1983) Self-Q…

Data collection and analysis procedures adapted from the fields of anthropology, developmental psychology, and linguistics have been instrumental in advancing writing process research. Two such models of study are the embedded case study and the researcher as participant observer. The embedded case study research design embeds small group…

The participant/observer (P/O) evaluation technique was developed to supplement the standard participant evaluation technique in medical education workshops. The feasibility of using the technique was examined at two conferences: an annual state medical meeting with 26 workshops and a patient education conference with 16 workshops. Volunteers from…

The use of ethnography in educational research has a potential for building bridges between teacher practice and theory and research. In preservice teacher education, it can induce reflectiveness and encourage observational skills. In inservice education, research would be rooted in teachers' concerns and could become a joint enterprise between…

In commenting on Dobbert et al's article (this issue), submits that the guiding principle of cultural anthropology, participant observation, is absent from their field guide. Argues that difficulty in studying cultural transmission cross-culturally is not only related to diversity in content but to deeper differences in metaphysical outlook. (RDN)

Employing participant observation methodology, this paper analyzes a 4-hour meeting held among the representatives of a large religious organization in Taiwan. The analysis focuses on the influence of seniority on the Chinese decision making process. Five components of decision making proposed by Stewart (1985) and Kume (1985) were used for the…

This study looks for support for the suggestion in the Speech Learning Model that the phonetic category established in childhood for a first language (L1) sound may evolve gradually if it is linked perceptually to a second language (L2) sound. Assessed here is voice onset time (VOT) in two groups of five bilingual (English and Japanese) speakers,…

Participant observation is a classic qualitative methodology in which the researcher is immersed in the particular setting as a participant, rather than an outside observer. In this pilot study of an Even Start program, the methodology was modified by using actual program participants as observers and reporters. This enabled the crossing of…

The Cynon Valley Project in Wales, United Kingdom, used funding from the Save the Children Fund and the Bernard van Leer Foundation to address consequences of economic decline in the two communities of Fernhill and Perthcelyn. The project's focus was on early childhood education and community development. Though starting at about the same time and…

Argues for the scientific and practical value of participatory action research (PAR) and urges that this methodology be used in the social sciences. Defines PAR and places it in the context of traditional research. Illustrates the PAR process using two case studies. Claims that PAR can contribute to the advancement of social theory. (KO)

Five papers and an introduction discuss internal evaluation (IE), concentrating on the various sources of authority for IE and ways of enhancing IE authority. The roles of internal evaluators, conflicts in the evaluation process, and evaluation in a state education agency are reviewed. (SLD)