Criteria for an Ethnographic Approach to Research in Schools

A number of issues related to conducting ethnographic research in schools are explored under four criterion headings: (1) appropriateness of the problem, (2) appropriateness of the ethnographer, (3) appropriateness of the research climate, and (4) appropriateness of expectations for the completed study. The purpose of the paper is to air some of the issues that arise between those who do ethnography in educational settings and those who commission it, by examining recent experience and customary expectations. With the express purpose of fostering further dialogue, the author states his own position on many of the issues, but the critical function served by the paper is to work toward explicating problems rather than necessarily resolving them.