Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

• Multiple methods, diverse forms ofdata
Because cultures are complex and multifaceted, gaining an understanding ofthem
requires a variety ofmethods. Data may consist ofwritten documents, the
researcher's own field notes (including records ofdiscussions, chance
conversations, interviews, overheard remarks, observational notes), audiotapes,
videotapes and quantitative data.
• Engagement
The most prominent features ofan ethnographic approach are long-term
engagement in the situation as things actually happen and first-hand observation.
There has to be the 'human connection' with the participants, and the building of
trust.
• Researcher as instrument
Much detailed and useful background on a setting is often subjectively informed.
The researcher is regarded 'as her primary source ofdata'. Whether the
researcher's subjectivity is a strength or weakness is not the issue. It is seen as an
inevitable feature ofthe research act. However, recognising the presence of
subjectivity is not the same as 'anything goes'. A balance must be struck between
suspending preconceptions and using one's present understandings and beliefs to
enquire intelligently. The ethnographer must try to articulate the assumptions and
values implicit in the research, and what it means to acknowledge the researcher
as part of, rather than outside, the research act.
• Participants' accounts have high status
Participants' accounts and actions should be in the foreground. The researcher
should be able to 'get out ofthe way' and to act only as the 'information broker'.
However, it is the researcher who remains the highest authority, who selects from
what has been seen and heard, and who constructs the final account.
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