ABSTRACT
People investigate educational settings because they want to be able to tell better stories about them, i.e. because they want to be in a better position to inform others as accurately as they can about those settings and what goes on in them. In this chapter, we talk about some approaches to such investigation. Learning a little about these approaches and taking the time to practise them will allow you to develop your ability to harvest information about schools and other educational settings. This, in turn, will allow you to talk in a more informed way about the things that teachers and other staff do in them, and about the educational and social experiences, both planned and unplanned, of their pupils/students.
