ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I suggested some issues that can usefully be tackled by small-scale research and sketched the ways such issues have typically been addressed. Here, and in the following chapter, I try to flesh out these methods and topics by presenting a number of cases which have the potential for further research. I have selected these to represent a range of different research areas and methodologies, taking in research on writers, texts and readers. Like action research projects generally, these examples centre on local, concrete issues of relevance to practitioners and generally occur in natural settings (Burns, 1999: 2). They are all initiated by a question, supported by data and interpretation, and conducted by researchers, teachers, or students. In this chapter I focus on research methods which might be more familiar to teachers: those which involve observing what people do and recording what they say.
