Three interviews were scheduled and conducted with each family. Arrangements made in advance proved to be not appropriate since the parents did not cancel appointments if something arose and would indicate that they had forgotten the planned meeting when questioned later. Most of the parents preferred that the interviews occur immediately after the telephone call was made. Long term planning appeared to be difficult for all of the parents.

Since family members often experience activities differently (Snow et al, 1991), in the four families where there was more than one caregiver, I invited both to be interviewed. Doug was present when Beth was interviewed (Case 4) and John (Case 2) was interviewed after Lynne. Both Robert (Case 6) and Allen (Case 7) declined. During the interviews, I often probed for more details to get clarification on points that were not well understood. The interviews were audiotaped and then transcribed for inclusion in the data analysis. I also noted my observations and recorded my comments in field notes.

Interview 1.

Overview

Preliminary data were gathered to obtain an account of the family's literacy practices and events, parental attitudes and beliefs towards literacy, and the conditions influencing these practices. An "interview guide" approach to naturalistic interviewing starts with a list of issues to be addressed by each participant, still allowing for other topics to emerge, specific to each participant (Patton, 1990). A conversational style allowed me to present the new questions while maintaining the flow of the interview.