Miles and Huberman (1994) describe the four key parameters of a case study. First, one looks at the natural setting where the event or entity exists. Next, the actors are observed or interviewed. Then, there are the events that the actors are either observed doing or report during the interviews. Finally, case studies look at the process surrounding the actors and the events being studied.

Through case study methodology, my research "prob[ed] deeply and analyz[ed] intensively the multifarious phenomena" that constitute family literacy in selected families with a view to understanding these practices (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 106). Case study research is an inductive process that attempts to provide a holistic description of the processes, actions and events involved using participants' perceived realities and the observed reality of the events and processes being studied (Merriam, 2001). This method allows the findings to emerge from the data.

The research employed a pilot study and then multiple exploratory case studies (Yin, 1993) in an attempt to uncover the interplay among significant factors in family literacy practices, while carefully attending to the social situation and contextual realities. In the following sections, I discuss my pilot study and how it informed this study, the process for gaining entry, the participants in the study, as well as methods of data collection and analysis.