Reduced alcohol availability following the closure of the sole hotels in two rural towns afforded a naturalistic experiment to study the effects of alcohol availability and context for drinking on consumption. Measures of consumption derived from interviews, total dollars of liquor sales, and police drink-driving data were compared across two…

This study examined changes in the social interactions of children with and without disabilities, who were enrolled in inclusive preschool classes. It investigated the frequency of child participation in groups during free play, differences in participation patterns of children with and without disabilities, and ways in which children's patterns…

Noting that teacher educators should help preservice teachers not just to see play but also to participate in the realm of play, this paper presents three short case-vignettes illustrating the challenges to facilitating deep, differentiated play in typical classroom and school settings. The first vignette illustrates how seldom a first-grade…

A study conducted at a primary school in Birmingham, England, considered teachers', college tutors', parents', and pupils' perceptions of the way in which a group of 4-year-old children became incorporated into two reception classes. Study methodology included teacher and researcher observations and the videotaping and photographing of six types…

This paper explores technical questions of ethnographic study and uses as an example an actual episode observing college students and the subsequent decisions and steps taken to produce a written account. In particular, the paper seeks to address the question of researcher subjectivity by examining some issues relating to the practice of…

The effects of the genders of the assessor and the assessee on performance observation ratings of beginning teachers were studied in public schools in Louisiana. Data was collected in the pilot phase of the Louisiana Teacher Assessment Program for Interns, which included both teacher observation and structured interview. Of the assessees who…

This book describes a year-long participant-observer case study of the professorship as a profession. Following an introductory chapter, each chapter examines one aspect of the professor's occupation by recounting the specific experiences of the author, a sociology professor at Wright State University (Ohio). Chapter 2 looks at the department as…

This study explored the effects of children's cultural group on the content of their dramatic and sociodramatic play. After defining play, dramatic play, sociodramatic play, and culture, observations were conducted by a preschool teacher of Latino-American and first-generation African-American 4-year-olds over an 8-week period. Play that was…

This study assessed parental attitudes toward early mathematics and examined the ways in which families initiate and support the development of young children's early mathematical concepts. Six families with preschool-aged children (4 girls and 2 boys) participated in this case study involving observation of family interactions, interviews with…

This paper reports an investigation of a timetabled session in a self-access center with a General English program. Five classes were observed for three weeks to determine how the available time was actually used. Learners' opinions on the purpose and usefulness of the session were also sought. The most frequently observed activity overall was…

This study compared the behaviors of mainstreamed disabled students to those of their normative peers in the same classroom. Observational sessions were conducted in 48 classrooms in 3 rural West Virginia school districts. Data were collected on 71 disabled students in grades 3-7 over a 4-week period, including students with mild mental…

Two program evaluations are described to demonstrate two very different methodologies and consumer orientations. The first, a patient satisfaction survey commissioned by a medical center, used surveys as part of a larger continuous multipurpose evaluation process, and the second, the ZooGardens evaluation, was a one-time multimethod evaluation of…

This book offers a generalized way of examining the moral significance of what occurs in classrooms, with a focus on analyzing classroom interactions from a symbolic/expressive point of view. The book's ideas were derived from the Moral Life of Schools Project, a 2-year study that investigated the ways in which moral considerations permeate the…

How infants and toddlers become skilled social actors has not been examined as often as the peer interactions of older children. This study examined 24, middle-class toddlers (ages 23 to 33 months) in 9 different settings during their free-play time at a university-cooperative nursery school. Researchers analyzed 150 social bids which were either…

A conceptual and empirical analysis of findings from the development of a comprehensive classroom-based, direct observational measure of classroom environment is presented in this paper. The System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR) differs from traditional instruments of direct, systematic classroom observation in that it…