Fieldwork in Schools: The Reciprocity of Bias

Abstract

This paper contains a plea for sociologists of education to utilise qualitative research methods, particularly fieldwork, in order to advance our understanding of the motives and meanings of actors in educational contexts. Some of the major problems of conducting fieldwork in schools—problems of time and working hours, conflicting research paradigms, interpersonal relations in institutional settings and financial and moral support—are discussed. Examples are drawn from the writer's research experience in three schools in Adelaide, South Australia and analysed within a conceptual framework which stresses the importance of the establishment and maintenance of inter-subjective understandings for the conduct of action-oriented research in schools. Some solutions to the problems of the reciprocal bias which too often exists between researchers and research subjects are proffered in the belief that fieldwork, as a method, provides a sound basis for overcoming such problems.