As efforts to understand the benefits and consequences of classroom-based microcomputer programs increase, the use of qualitative strategies have increasingly become research methods of choice. Unfortunately, much confusion surrounds their use, partly because of uncertainty concerning just “what” should be evaluated and partly because the qualitative paradigm is not always well understood. This article discusses epistemological issues involved in the use of qualitative methods and specifies six models of qualitative data design and use: anecdotal, structured observations, case study, multisite case study, ethnography, and microethnography. Each is discussed in terms of its applicability to an ongoing evaluation of Apple Computer's “Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow.”
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