ABSTRACT
Universal education is an essential and valued aspect of liberal democratic society. Its promise of social mobility through the acquisition of academic credentials offers each individual, regardless of social origin, the dream of equality. This chapter presents a case study combining a longitudinal survey approach, with what can be described as a school-based ethnographic study. Despite the difficulty of combining these two distinct methodological perspectives into what may be called a 'multidimensional framework', it did offer a satisfactory means of studying the complex influences that affect the career aspirations and expectations of young black women. At a practical level, Adelman puts forward the some solution to overcome the misrepresentation so often evident in ethnographic studies. He suggests that the participant observer should be a competent member of the culture he or she is writing about. It has been acknowledged that the quality of research into issues of race can be improved by the interpretation and perspective brought by black scholars.
