Additional Volunteer Participation

At the conclusion of the study, I returned to the school setting to spend two days a month as a volunteer for another eight months. My purpose for the additional time was to ensure that I had developed a clear understanding of literacy practices at the school and the everyday realities surrounding teachers' work practices (Creswell, 1994).

Data Analysis Procedures

In order to make sense of the data collected, a thorough analysis was performed. This involved transcription of interview data and then organization and categorization of this information. The data collected were matched with themes that arose from the literature review; any new themes were noted. Because the data gathering involved a variety of collection methods, triangulation of the results was possible (Gillham & Buckner, 1997).

Coding

In the data analysis, I sought to understand each of the eight cases and their uniqueness and to gather meanings that might be applied to help understand issues surrounding literacy in the home or school setting. Analysis was ongoing throughout the study, beginning during the course of the fieldwork following completion of the first interview. The in-depth information gathered about each case from the six sources of data (interviews, field notes, questionnaires, journals, videotape interactions and classroom observations) was analyzed to form a picture of what was occurring in the situations studied. The use of case study methodology allowed a closer look at the situation to "seek patterns of relationships between factors deemed important for the working of the particular phenomenon" of literacy (Purcell-Gates, 1995; p. 179).