The use of fieldwork in evaluation presents the fieldworker and agencies connected with educational evaluation with a number of critical problems. Four of these problems are identified and discussed: 1) definition of the "problem"; 2) multiplicity of signals, expectations, and responses; 3) dispensation of fieldwork data; and 4) collection of data…

Provides a critical overview of articles in this issue on field work in administration and policy. Focuses on three recurrent themes: field worker role; reciprocity (the repayment a fieldworker makes to his or her informants); and ethics. (KH)

Some major consequences of doing fieldwork in schools over an extended period of time are described. Using Powdermaker's distinction of "stranger and friend," the balance between these two roles and perspectives in terms of role, reciprocity, and receptivity is traced through a description of the author's two year study of student life…