ABSTRACT
During the year I spent in my initial research school my thinking had progressed beyond the stage of simple uneasiness with conventional methods in educational sciences. It was becoming clear that some degree of theoretical and methodological sophistication was needed. In the course of research I had become interested in several areas of theoretical importance, in particular, participant observation, personal construct theory, and symbolic interactionism. It is not my purpose in this account to produce a synthesis of these positions. I want only to discuss their importance to the development of my own thinking.
