Upon completion of the interaction, the parents were asked to discuss whether this was a regular routine for them, to indicate if their child's behavior was typical, and to comment in general upon what had just occurred. I then dubbed the 8-mm videotape onto a VHS format. Each original tape was assigned a number, indicating participant, date, tape number and time. Two VHS copies of each original tape were made, with one copy given to each participant at the end of the study.

Field notes

Field notes were also systematically written during the second interview to document my observations. I aimed to remain cognizant of the way school or community literacy programs influenced family literacy. My notes included the date, time, place, and length of time in which the observation was conducted, details on the actual observations and my emerging thoughts on social processes while noting patterns, themes, and categories of behaviour emerging from the data.

Interview 3.

A third follow-up interview was completed with the families upon review of the videotape transcripts. This session served as a type of debriefing to allow participants an opportunity to discuss any issues or concerns that may have arisen as a result of the interviews or from their involvement in the study. This meeting also provided me with an opportunity to correct misinformation about the study or obtain further elaboration or information confirmation where needed. Although not requested, two families gave me several artifacts of the children's writing and drawing. These contained sketches of cartoon characters and hearts with the message, "I love you Mom."