ABSTRACT
It is easy to miss the involvement and excitement of the researcher in written reports. This often appears in autobiographical, retrospective accounts of how the work was done, but these are often folktales, with the researcher as hero and the procedures as quest (Atkinson 1996). In practice, during the initial thinking, design, implementation and ana lysis of results and publication, researchers are focused, alert to ideas and events that seem significant. This involvement ranges from intense reading round the subject, discussion with anyone interested and aware ness of relevant events around them. Simultaneously they exclude factors not deemed relevant. The published account is the product not just of a clearly defined research act but of inclusion and exclusion over time.
