This naturalistic study provides a description and analysis of the processes through which 26 kindergarten students and a particular male student, called Lester, defined rules of social acceptability which stigmatized Lester as an "outsider." Findings are primarily based on 112 hours of recorded peer interaction and interviews conducted…

This paper represents an initial exploration of researcher-informant relationships which develop when naturalistic researchers spend long periods of time watching and recording the details of classroom activity for which a teacher has basic responsibility. The goals of this paper are to present a discussion of the significance of…

This paper describes data gathering and analytic procedures, and then presents examples regarding how each fits into the naturalistic research model. From the interactionist perspective, called symbolic interactionism, meaning is of central importance. Naturalistic inquiry is a way of doing social science research which provides the methodological…

Using a personal anecdotal style, this paper describes ethical conflicts that occurred during a study conducted in a kindergarten classroom in which the researcher was a passive observer. The paper is framed around an incident observed by the researcher in which a kindergarten student was stigmatized as an outsider and mistreated by his peer…

The contributions of peer interaction to the development of social competence in kindergarten children are discussed in terms of research findings and implications for teachers. Using naturalistic methodology, social behavior was studied by observing interactions among children in classroom settings without direct adult supervision. In peer…

To provide a description of children's strategies for acquiring and protecting status in peer interactions, participant observation fieldwork was conducted in a classroom of 24 kindergarteners in a low socioeconomic status urban public school. During the period from January through May of 1983, 26 observational visits were made and 80 hours of…