ABSTRACT
In this section we begin our study of methods in children’s folklore by presenting two studies of children at play. The first is by Ann Richman Beresin, who conducted extensive video fieldwork in a multiethnic urban playground. The second, by Linda A. Hughes, is her report on several years of study of a group of elementary-school girls playing the game of foursquare. Both are unique insofar as these kinds of methods with children have seldom been used, and yet they are also relatively “modern” investigations in their attempt to capture as fully as possible the ongoing performance of being a child player. Subsequently, we present an overview by Gary Alan Fine of the different kinds of methodology that can be used by workers in this field. He announces several ethical principles that should be kept in mind in doing child folklore research and then gives a number of examples that some will find controversial.
