ABSTRACT
As a novice researcher in the early 1970s one of us (Martin) was assigned the task of carrying out psychological tests on 4-year-old children in a nursery school. The aim was to measure the impact of 'cognitive style' on socially disadvantaged children's learning. Collecting these data was part of a wider programme of experimental intervention research to test the (at that time) contested claim that preschool education could produce long-term benefits (Woodhead 1976). The site of fieldwork was a nursery school on a new housing estate. The head teacher had allocated a small room where I could test the children undisturbed. In the days leading up to the research I took all 'normal' precautions. I explained the study to the headteacher and sought her permission to carry out tests on the children. I spent time familiarizing myself with nursery routines and getting to know children who had been selected as subjects of the research - as well as observing their behaviour as they worked on jigsaw puzzles, scrambled over the climbing frame, and played in the home corner.
