If one be-
lieves that folklore is disappearing or disintegrating (Dundes 1969a), folk-
lorists are obligated to collect material rapidly, particularly emphasizing tra-
ditions of previous generations.
lieves that folklore is disappearing or disintegrating (Dundes 1969a), folk-
lorists are obligated to collect material rapidly, particularly emphasizing tra-
ditions of previous generations.
Childens - Folklore
More detailed discussions of this
conceptualization as it is applied to social life may be found in Harre and Secord
(1972), Shwayder (1965) and Hymes (1980).
4. Foursquare players' own terminology is enclosed in quotation marks. See
L. Hughes (1989) for a more detailed glossary and taxonomy of game rules and ter-
minology.
5. Eisenberg (1984) and Grimshaw (1980) discuss the important functions of
creating and managing ambiguity in everyday life. Eder and Sanford (1986) provide
examples of its use among early adolescents to manage awkward issues of responsi-
bility for one's actions.
6. See Goffman (1961a) and Csikszentmihalyi (1975) for more complete dis-
cussions of this issue.
7. Pseudonyms have been used for all players.
8. Austin (1962, 1970), Goffman (1967), Garfinkel (1967), and E. Hall (1977)
present various views on this perspective and its methodological implications.
9. Von Glascoe (1980, 229-30) reports very similar patterns among a group
of girls playing the game of redlight in Southern California: "A surprising order to
philosophical inquiry emerges in the course of [resolving disputes between the direc-
tor and the other players]. Arguments are grounded in terms of player-members' doc-
trines about intentional acts, unconscious acts, "accidental" acts, goal-directedness of
acts and fate-determined acts. A summary of director's arguments is expressed in the
following paradigm: I saw you move, and your move was intentional and goal-directed,
therefore you must return to the start line. A summary of the player's response would
be: "I didn't move, and if I did, it wasn't goal-directed, and if it was goal-directed, it
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? ? wasn't intentional, and if it was goal-directed and intentional, you didn't see me. "
Goodwin and Goodwin (1983) and M. Goodwin (1990) also present highly detailed
accounts of interaction within and between black boys' and girls' play groups in ur-
ban Philadelphia, and report very similar patterns.
10. These kinds of exchanges, and others like apologies ("Gee, I'm sorry") and
accusations ("You're being mean. " "No, I'm not. " "Yes, you are") can also become
highly ritualized and thus somewhat detached from their meaning in other contexts
of use. They can, for example, become the subject of "playfulness" among players or
a topic for comment or gossip among players in line. The interplay of meanings among
different contexts of use remains highly significant, however, and can be used to meth-
odological and analytical advantage.
APPENDIX: THE FOURSQUARE STUDY
The examples in this chapter are drawn from an ethnographic study of ap-
proximately forty children who played the game of foursquare during re-
cess at a Friends (Quaker) school in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. I
observed these children over a period of two years, from the fall of 1979 to
the spring of 1981, and subsequently interviewed ten regular players about
the game and its playing. I will only briefly describe this study here, and only
selectively draw upon its findings. More extensive descriptions of this game
and its playing, and of the methodology used in this study, can be found in
L. Hughes (1983, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993).
The Players
The children who were most intensively observed in this study (twenty-seven
girls and twelve boys) represented a naturally occurring play group, entirely
self-selected by their spontaneous participation in the game of foursquare. The
regular players were predominantly fourth- and fifth-grade girls (twenty of the
twenty-seven girls observed); they were white and from middle- to upper-
middle-class families. Younger and older children, boys as well as girls, were
also observed. Approximately twenty percent came from Quaker families.
The Game
I chose to focus on the game of foursquare for a variety of reasons. In the set-
ting observed, this game has been almost exclusively child-initiated and sus-
tained for at least twenty years. It is played year-round with very few seasonal
diversions, and it is played in a relatively small, well-defined space at each play-
ing (a court painted on a paved area of the playground). This allowed for easy
observation of the same game over an extended period of time with no need
for research manipulation. Further, the structure of this game required explicit
statements about the rules prior to each round of play, allowing ample op-
portunity to explore relationships between stated rules and action.
Foursquare is a relatively common and widely distributed playground
116 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
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? ? game. It was apparently first introduced via physical education classes (see
Farina, Furth and Smith 1959; Fait, 1964), but it has long been a folk game
in many settings (see, for example, Lindsay and Palmer 1981). Foursquare
would generally be categorized as an individual (nonteam) ball-bouncing
game, with a "leader" or "central person" (Gump and Sutton-Smith 1955),
whose outcome depends upon a mixture of skill and strategy (Roberts and
Sutton-Smith 1962). In the setting observed for this study, the game would
be described as follows:
Foursquare is played with a large, red, rubber ball on a square court,
approximately twelve feet on a side, which is further divided into four equal
squares. It may be played by any number of players, with a minimum of five
(four active players, one of whom occupies each of the four squares, and a
fifth player who replaces any player who is out of the game).
The first player to arrive for recess commonly stands in one of the
squares, called the "king" square. When the remaining squares have been
filled, any additional players form a line next to the court. They enter the
game in order as the active players are out, leave the court and join the end
of the line.
The game begins when the player occupying the "king" square calls
a set of rules for the round of play that follows. Calls may invoke a set of
rules ("my rules," "Debbie rules," "regular rules"), or selectively allow or
prohibit one or more specific actions ("wings," "no spins," duckfeet is
out"). After calling the rules, the "king" serves the ball to one of the other
players by bouncing the ball in that player's square. The ball is bounced from
player to player until one of the players fails to return it to another player's
square, or until the ball bounces more than once in a player's square. That
player is out, leaves the court, and goes to the end of the line of players wait-
ing to get into the game. The remaining three players rotate toward the
"king's" square, filling in the vacant square, and the first player in line en-
ters the game at the square farthest from the "king. " The "king" again calls
the rules and serves the ball to begin a new round of play.
Methods
I conducted this study in two distinct phases (observations followed by in-
terviews), and employed a wide range of methodological techniques. This
was designed to allow conclusions based not only upon participant and ob-
server, but also upon a confluence of evidence derived from multiple per-
spectives on the same events. During both phases, I placed primary empha-
sis on eliciting children's own terminology, and on understanding events, as
much as possible, as they did.
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? ? Observations
I observed a total of twenty-three half-hour recess periods; foursquare was
played during fourteen of these sessions. I dictated my observations into a
tape recorder for transcription and elaboration immediately following each
session. All entries included the identities of individual players, their roles
in the game, the order in which players entered and left the game, and the
rules in effect for each round of play.
I focused on different aspects of play during different sessions. These
included patterns of ball movement among the players; the kinds of talk that
occurred during play, while waiting in line-in disputes, discussions, and
demonstrations; the conditions under which players were "out" versus given
a "takeover"; attempts to modify the rules, successful and unsuccessful; and
photographic documentation of nonverbal communication. I always paid
particular attention to disputes, and to other contexts in which players were
called upon to explain or justify their actions. I also informally queried play-
ers about events in the game, and occasionally played the game myself. I
regularly visited classrooms and the staff lounge to gather information about
the broader school context.
Interviews
In the spring of 1981, I intensively interviewed ten girls representing "regu-
lar" foursquare players in nine sessions of a half-hour to an hour. I always
interviewed the players in groups, rather than individually, to allow discus-
sion among participants, encourage the use of shared terminology, and al-
low the kinds of side-exchanges that often reveal private meanings. I also
took care to interview girls from the same social cliques both together and
in combination with girls from different social circles, to encourage chal-
lenges to any one interpretation of what happened in the game. Interviews
ranged widely over topics spontaneously raised by children, as well as fo-
cusing more narrowly on the rules of their game and its play. During the
interviews, different groups of players also were asked to sort various game
rules, written on 3" x 5" cards, into categories, and to explain their criteria
for distinguishing between different types of rules.
Analysis
I used the juxtaposition of information derived from field observation, par-
ticipant observation, and interviews, along with informant evaluations, to
generate and check my understanding of principles underlying the playing
of foursquare in this group. I transcribed all observations and interviews and
indexed them for mention or occurrence of particular players, rules, and
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? ? roles, and for instances of disagreements, apologies, excuses, explanations,
demonstrations, and instruction in which players were called upon to some-
how explain or justify their actions.
I constructed a structural model of the game to represent meaning-
ful gaming units (such as "calls," "serves," and "outs") as a network of
nodes (von Cranach 1982) or junctures at which alternative courses were
possible. I further characterized each unit and juncture in terms of variations
in player actions and players' responses to those variations, in order to iden-
tify what players perceived to be acceptable versus unacceptable conduct in
the game (see Fig. 2). I also constructed an elaborated glossary and taxonomy
of game rules (L. Hughes 1989) based on the rule sorts conducted during
interviews (see Table 2). Players' own criteria for distinguishing among vari-
ous rule types and functions provided additional evidence concerning gen-
eral principles underlying play. Further analyses focused on relationships
between stated rules and action, the rhetoric and politics of actual rule us-
age, and issues of strategy and style as performances are managed and modu-
lated toward preferred interpretations.
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? ?
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? ? 6 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
Most chapters in this Source book cover some aspect of childlore, provid-
ing a descriptive account of the range and content of that genre. This chap-
ter has a different goal. I wish to describe techniques for effectively collect-
ing children's lore of all types. While no absolute methodological rules ex-
ist, there are guidelines with general validity.
Because of social, cognitive, and physiological differences between
children and adults, the techniques of collecting from children are not nec-
essarily identical to the techniques of collecting from adult informants. Un-
fortunately, the major methodological guides to folklore collecting either do
not discuss collecting from children (Ives 1974; Dorson 1972) or only briefly
cover the topic (Goldstein 1964, 150-54). General research dicta do not
cover the special challenges faced by those who collect childlore.
Folklore has traditionally relied on multiple methodologies. Among
the most prominent of these techniques are reminiscences, interviews and
diaries, surveys and questionnaires, observation, and experiments. ' Ideally,
a multimethod approach generates the most complete and richest analysis,
although researchers recognize that this is not always possible because of
financial and time constraints.
In describing each methodology I will discuss its ethical implications,
and how research can be conducted to protect the rights and dignity of in-
formants. Three criteria are essential for an ethical research technique: (1)
no harm must be done to the subject, physical, social, or psychological; (2)
the subject must not be deceived by the researcher, unless such deception is
an integral and necessary part of the research; and (3) subjects must be given
informed consent as to the nature of their participation, giving them the free-
dom to withdraw at any point if they choose. Most universities and colleges
have established Institutional Review Boards to examine ethical issues in
research with human subjects; folklorists affiliated with a college or univer-
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? ? sity who are planning to conduct research should contact these committees
to gain their approval before collecting data. Although university regulations
differ, committee approval is generally required. Most federal grants require
official approval of research procedures, but even unfunded research is of-
ten subject to the same requirements. Although this may appear to be an
impediment to research, such collective validation of one's research tech-
niques prevents personal desires from obscuring ethical concerns. Further,
and of more pragmatic importance, with institutional approval comes uni-
versity sponsorship and insurance. The University of Minnesota, for example,
will cover investigators for up to three million dollars per subject for any
injury caused during research. Any folklorist who has transported a group
of rowdy children in heavy traffic can appreciate the protection offered.
Research with children poses ethical issues, because children have not
reached the age of consent and because of the dynamics of role relationships
between adults and children. Most discussions of ethical issues are based on
the assumption that the research relationship is among peers; this research
fiction cannot be maintained when working with children, however. One
must recognize the legitimate roles of parents and guardians.
REMINISCENCES
Many early folklore researchers interested in children's traditional culture
have asked adults to recall the games that they played when they were young.
While some collectors also observed and interviewed children, they were
particularly interested in adult reminiscences. It is difficult to determine the
proportion of the games and variants collected by Lady Gomme and W. W.
Newell (or for that matter later by the Opies and the Knapps) that derived
from adult reminiscences, since none of these admirable works specified their
informants, an unfortunate tradition in studies of children's folklore. Memo-
ries of the activities of childhood, however, play a major role in most col-
lections of childlore.
Why should this be so? There are reasons, both pragmatic and theo-
retical, for relying upon adult memories. Pragmatically, adult collectors can
easily obtain information from their peers. Often this information is not
collected through face-to-face contact, but through correspondence. The
folklorist can efficiently obtain a large sheaf of childlore at little cost. Col-
lecting from adults through the mail also encourages a geographically di-
verse collection of material without the burdens of travel. This research tech-
nique also provides data in usable form, as most of the correspondents will
communicate in serviceable prose. Since adults are being asked directly for
information, ethical issues are minimized.
12. METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? Collecting from adults also has theoretical justifications.
If one be-
lieves that folklore is disappearing or disintegrating (Dundes 1969a), folk-
lorists are obligated to collect material rapidly, particularly emphasizing tra-
ditions of previous generations. In collecting from parents rather than their
children, one uncovers traditions from a time in which children's traditions
flourished to a greater extent than they currently do. The older one's infor-
mant, it is believed, the better will be the quality of one's data. Although
this belief is discredited today, especially in childlore, it explains why remi-
niscences were considered valuable data.
A second theoretical justification for using adult reminiscences is
based on Hans Naumann's theory of gesunkenes Kulturgut. Supporters of
this theory argue that folklore is transmitted downward in social hierarchies.
The traditions of the rich become the traditions of the poor, and the tradi-
tions of adults eventually become the traditions of children. This perspec-
tive, also no longer widely accepted by contemporary folklorists, suggests
that by collecting children's lore from adults one might be able to obtain less
corrupted versions of childlore.
A possible third justification for collecting adult reminiscences, al-
though not currently posited, is that this method might generate an impor-
tant research tradition of its own. By collecting data from adult informants
one can examine the structure of memory: How do adults recall their child-
hood (and "childish") activities and how do they express these activities?
While such research is limited because of the difficulty, if not the impossi-
bility, of obtaining records of how adults actually played these folk games
when children, we do have descriptive studies of the games of the previous
generation.
Despite the potential for research, most folklorists are hesitant to use
reminiscences as their sole methodology in any reasonably complete study
of childlore, although reminiscences may be a valuable source of supplemen-
tary or confirmatory information.
INTERVIEWS AND DIARIES
Interviewing children is a common technique for collecting folklore. This
methodology can be as straightforward as a conversation. Children are ei-
ther asked to explain their traditions (essentially through free association)
or they are given topics (games, jokes, riddles) and then asked to expand
on these through directed recall. Interviewing can be conducted with indi-
vidual children or with a group (McDowell 1979), and can be focused on
one genre or can cover several. The competent interviewer must establish
and maintain trust with the informant. Often folklorists strive to collect tra-
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? ? ditions that children communicate to each other away from adults (Fine
1981). That proves particularly thorny when one is interviewing children
with whom one is not acquainted and when the interview involves "sensi-
tive"--obscene or aggressive-subject matter. Despite this difficulty, impor-
tant interview studies of children have been conducted (Grider 1976), and
some obscene material collected (R. Turner 1974).
Parallel to the interview is the directed performance or the "induced
natural context" (Goldstein 1967b; Goldstein 1964, 87-90). In collecting
verbal lore such as riddles, one can simply ask one's informants to perform
them. But what about folk genres that involve acting-or example, games,
and folk drama? Here the folklorist may gather a group of children and re-
quest that they demonstrate their traditions. Elizabeth Tucker (1977, 1980a)
asked the members of the Girl Scout troop she led to act out stories in or-
der to earn merit badges. Although the girls created the skits, they did so at
the behest of the researcher. Researchers who request that children play a
particular game transform an interview into a "dramatic" event. This dif-
fers from naturalistic situations that characterize observation and ethnog-
raphy (see the chapters by Beresin and Hughes in this volume).
Folklorists working with children may ask their informants to keep a
diary of their activities. This technique is similar to a written interview or remi-
niscences telescoped in time. Rather than asking the children what they did
in the past, they are asked to write down what they do as they do it. To the
extent that children take this task seriously, one can examine how folk activ-
ity is situated in time and space. The diary writing skills of children may de-
pend on their age, maturity, and motivation, but, if all one requests is a docu-
mentary record of who did what when and with whom, diaries are useful.
Ethical issues are typically not pressing when conducting interviews
because deception is rarely involved and little or no harm can result. Still,
one must consider "informed consent. " Fortunately it is relatively easy to
explain to child, parent, guardian, and supervisor what one hopes to col-
lect. By describing the genre and the need for studies of children's traditions,
both child and adult can be informed of the value of participation. Research-
ers who wish to collect obscene or aggressive lore, however, may find that
their options are limited. Here the researcher may be deliberately vague about
what is being collected by stating that what is wanted is the "full range of
children's traditions," hoping to gain the child's trust and that the adult will
not be within earshot. That skirts the edge of ethical acceptability. Although
scholars should not oppose collecting obscene lore, one might object to se-
cretive strategies that do not involve the consent of parents or guardians.
One technique of avoiding the problem is to avoid the topic unless one's in-
12. 4 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? formant spontaneously raises it. Even though the folklorist does not raise
sensitive topics, some parents may object to the researcher who does not
prevent the child from expressing this material.
Another ethical problem, perhaps more significant for folklore stud-
ies than for any other discipline, is that of confidentiality and attribution.
In most social-scientific research, one explains to informants that their names
will never be used. Occasionally, when the information is unique (as in psy-
chiatric case studies or life histories of deviants), attribution could harm the
informant. In contrast, in the humanities one assumes that all informants
will be fully identified and may even share in the royalties. It would be lu-
dicrous to publish a poem or reproduce a painting without identifying the
poet or painter-even if the artist is a child. People deserve credit (and fi-
nancial rewards) for their creations.
A discipline squarely situated between the humanities and the social
sciences, folklore occupies an awkward position. Material collected from
informants might, under certain circumstances, be harmful or embarrassing,
and yet, simultaneously, might be an aesthetic performance that deserves
credit. Although folklorists do not often consider the ethical ramifications
of their work, a hidden and painful contradiction exists. Folklorists know
of the psychological and social harm that even well-intentioned publicity can
cause a folk informant, even when that folk informant requests that the work
be identified. Fame can be a harsh taskmaster. When one deals with adults,
and particularly when one's research focuses on a few informants, probably
the most ethically justified stance is to allow the informants to choose how
and where they will be identified. The folklorist should point out the fore-
seeable advantages and drawbacks, perhaps signing a contract that permits
remuneration. With numerous informants, informants are not usually iden-
tified by name because no individual's contribution is so central as to be-
come the focus of attention.
In conducting research with children the ethical problems are more
difficult, because children may not have the competence to foresee what is
best for them. In instances in which a small number of children is highlighted
(particularly in those studies that emphasize "artistic" genres-a fiendishly
difficult judgment) parents might be asked, with royalties placed in a trust
fund (royalties, for example, from record albums or published life histories).
The standard practice when collecting from many children should be to avoid
using the children's names, but only their age, sex, place of residence, and,
sometimes, ethnic background. Although this procedure denies "credit,"
most folklorists would agree that it is an ethically defensible position.
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? ? SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
We most frequently think of surveys as election-year devices for measuring
the public mood. A survey is essentially a structured interview given to a large
number of individuals. Often the questions require the respondent to select
among a limited set of options,2 although that is not always required. Sur-
veys can be carried out face-to-face, over the telephone, or by written re-
spondent responses. The basic advantages of the survey are that one can
collect a lot of data quickly and, depending on the circumstances, it can be
done with minimal effort. One may employ a random or representative
sample. If one asks questions that require numerical answers or that have
categories of answers, statistical tests are possible (see Fine 1979a). One
should at least be able to compare answers or among groups, something not
always possible with the smaller number of participants in most in-depth
interview studies.
Some surveys are quite extensive. Mary and Herbert Knapp (1976)
in their study of American childlore collected questionnaires from children
throughout the United States. An even more extensive national survey was
conducted in Finland:
[I used] as my main material unstructured descriptions written by chil-
dren and young people. The material used in this book is taken largely
from the results of a collective effort organised in Finnish schools in
1969, in which over 30,000 writers, mostly aged between ten and eigh-
teen, took part. This body of material is not suitable for statistical analy-
sis, but it gives a vivid and many-sided picture of the life of the tradi-
tion and its social basis. . . . For instance game-starting situations are
described in writings which had as title "How a game starts in the
yard," play-languages are described under the heading "How I learnt
the secret language," and so on . . . Teachers were asked to emphasise
that the writers were free to write as they wished, without worrying
about grammar or spelling. They were also asked to write truthfully,
directly, without embellishment, and using slang and swear words
where necessary. Many of the writers delighted in taking advantage of
the freedom thus offered them. (Virtanen 1978, 10)
Although the author does not detail the nature of the sample or how this
sample was selected, this research is an example of national surveys found
in Europe produced with the support of a national folklore commission. Such
studies are useful in delineating the range of folklore within a nation.
Surveys that depend on numerical or categorical responses allow folk-
i6 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? lorists to estimate how frequently a folk tradition is performed, how many
perform or know of it, the characteristics of active or passive tradition bear-
ers, and the occasions on which this tradition is performed. The open-ended
questionnaire does not permit this type of systematic analysis, but it does
display what is performed and how it is performed. The technique seems
particularly appropriate for obtaining texts of short or fixed forms, such as
riddles and folk speech.
The basic problem with these approaches is that the researcher is lim-
ited by the questions asked. Anyone who has conducted open-ended inter-
views is aware that the answers one receives direct the next questions. That
is impossible in a structured survey in which the order of questions is pre-
determined. When one is questioning hundreds or thousands of informants,
some structure is necessary. A related problem is that questionnaire re-
sponses, even those based on open-ended questions, are not very detailed,
and one may not learn about what folk traditions mean for one's informant.
The researcher receives a description of the content, form, or even context
of the folk tradition, but its personal or communal significance is absent.
Researchers must ensure that children understand the questions asked
them-an obvious but sometimes overlooked point. It is crucial when the
survey is designed to be completed by children of various ages. One won-
ders about the scope or utility of a questionnaire that can be understood by
children between the ages of eight and eighteen. Such a questionnaire must
be designed for the youngest child; as a consequence, one loses valuable in-
formation from older children.
The ethical problems in survey research are relatively straightforward,
similar to those of interviewing. Neither deception nor possible harm are
significant dangers, as long as confidentiality is maintained. Informed con-
sent may be a troubling issue for those questionnaires distributed in school,
where it is not always possible for parents to be made aware of what their
children are asked to complete.
OBSERVATIONAL METHODOLOGIES
The methodologies I have described above ask children (or adults) to talk
about things, rather than do things (excepting the performance interview).
In contrast, in observational methodologies the field researcher views chil-
dren interacting in their "natural" environment. A long tradition of obser-
vational work in folklore (Newell 1903 [1963]), in psychology (Sherif and
Sherif 1964), and in sociology (Thrasher 1927) exists. Indeed, observation
is likely the most popular methodology for research on children's culture.
Through observation one feels that one is learning what children "really"
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? ? do, and not what they can be made to do or say.
Researchers conduct observational studies in several ways, enacting
different roles. Some researchers, particularly those examining child devel-
opment, observe "systematically. " They have a predetermined category sys-
tem, and every time a behavior occurs that is covered by their categories,
they make a notation. This approach, appropriate for certain research ques-
tions, is rarely applicable to children's culture because it doesn't allow re-
searchers to capture the meaning, content, or context of the child's behav-
ior. Category systems are generally too confining for folklore research.
More relevant to the collection of childlore is what has been variously
called "ethnography," "participant observation," or "unsystematic obser-
vation. " Here the observer attempts to capture what children are doing
as accurately and as completely as possible (Fine and Sandstrom 1988).
The children's performances are rarely directed, so one weakness of obser-
vation is that one may have to wait a long time for anything interesting to
happen.
The adult "participant" observer can select one of several roles. They
include that of the supervisor, leader, observer, and friend (Fine and Glassner
1979; Fine 1980a). The role that the adult researcher adopts affects accep-
tance by the children as well as the content and context of children's cul-
ture that can be observed.
FIGURE 1. Roles of Adult Researchers in Observational Settings
With Children
Direct Authority
Positive
Contact
Present
Absent
Present
Leader
Supervisor
Absent
Friend
Observer
From Fine and Glassner 1979, 156.
Supervisor
The supervisor is a researcher who has direct control over the child, yet lacks
positive contact. Supervisors may be teachers, camp supervisors, or religious
instructors. This role provides access to a relatively limited range of children's
culture. The preadolescent must follow the orders of the authority when
under observation; as a result, behavior often differs when the supervisor is
absent. Children carefully manage the impressions that adults have of them
(Fine 1987). Although the observed behavior may be natural, it does not
I28 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? represent the range of behaviors of preadolescents. With this research role,
many barriers between adults and children cannot be eliminated. Supervi-
sors will be uncomfortable collecting sensitive traditions from children, al-
though they may be confident in their authority.
Leader
The leader is essentially a supervisor with positive contact, a friendly teacher,
Little League coach, or scoutmaster. A wider range of childhood behaviors
are displayed in front of a leader and, even if preadolescents overstep the
line, some tolerance typically will be shown by the adult; the frame of ref-
erence for all behavior when the leader is present, however, is that of the
adult. Preadolescents may feel constrained to act "politely" so as not to
embarrass their adult leader, and that may prevent them from behaving in
"naughty" ways, which may be precisely what the researcher wishes to ob-
serve. Their respect is a barrier for the adult who wishes to understand
childlore.
Observer
The observer role is the inverse of the leader role. The observer is an adult
who lacks both formal authority and affective ties, who rather stands back
and watches. Although preadolescents do not try to gain this person's ap-
proval, neither do they admit the observer into their confidence. Children
know which of their activities upsets adults, and may avoid them when
strangers are present. Some preadolescent groups watch out for adults and
change their behavior accordingly. The pure observer has no more right to
observe preadolescent behavior than has any member of the public, although
that depends on how the observer presents the research. Because of the ab-
sence of positive relations, questioning preadolescents about sensitive top-
ics is difficult. The observer witnesses behavior, but its meanings and moti-
vations are frequently opaque.
conceptualization as it is applied to social life may be found in Harre and Secord
(1972), Shwayder (1965) and Hymes (1980).
4. Foursquare players' own terminology is enclosed in quotation marks. See
L. Hughes (1989) for a more detailed glossary and taxonomy of game rules and ter-
minology.
5. Eisenberg (1984) and Grimshaw (1980) discuss the important functions of
creating and managing ambiguity in everyday life. Eder and Sanford (1986) provide
examples of its use among early adolescents to manage awkward issues of responsi-
bility for one's actions.
6. See Goffman (1961a) and Csikszentmihalyi (1975) for more complete dis-
cussions of this issue.
7. Pseudonyms have been used for all players.
8. Austin (1962, 1970), Goffman (1967), Garfinkel (1967), and E. Hall (1977)
present various views on this perspective and its methodological implications.
9. Von Glascoe (1980, 229-30) reports very similar patterns among a group
of girls playing the game of redlight in Southern California: "A surprising order to
philosophical inquiry emerges in the course of [resolving disputes between the direc-
tor and the other players]. Arguments are grounded in terms of player-members' doc-
trines about intentional acts, unconscious acts, "accidental" acts, goal-directedness of
acts and fate-determined acts. A summary of director's arguments is expressed in the
following paradigm: I saw you move, and your move was intentional and goal-directed,
therefore you must return to the start line. A summary of the player's response would
be: "I didn't move, and if I did, it wasn't goal-directed, and if it was goal-directed, it
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? ? wasn't intentional, and if it was goal-directed and intentional, you didn't see me. "
Goodwin and Goodwin (1983) and M. Goodwin (1990) also present highly detailed
accounts of interaction within and between black boys' and girls' play groups in ur-
ban Philadelphia, and report very similar patterns.
10. These kinds of exchanges, and others like apologies ("Gee, I'm sorry") and
accusations ("You're being mean. " "No, I'm not. " "Yes, you are") can also become
highly ritualized and thus somewhat detached from their meaning in other contexts
of use. They can, for example, become the subject of "playfulness" among players or
a topic for comment or gossip among players in line. The interplay of meanings among
different contexts of use remains highly significant, however, and can be used to meth-
odological and analytical advantage.
APPENDIX: THE FOURSQUARE STUDY
The examples in this chapter are drawn from an ethnographic study of ap-
proximately forty children who played the game of foursquare during re-
cess at a Friends (Quaker) school in the western suburbs of Philadelphia. I
observed these children over a period of two years, from the fall of 1979 to
the spring of 1981, and subsequently interviewed ten regular players about
the game and its playing. I will only briefly describe this study here, and only
selectively draw upon its findings. More extensive descriptions of this game
and its playing, and of the methodology used in this study, can be found in
L. Hughes (1983, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993).
The Players
The children who were most intensively observed in this study (twenty-seven
girls and twelve boys) represented a naturally occurring play group, entirely
self-selected by their spontaneous participation in the game of foursquare. The
regular players were predominantly fourth- and fifth-grade girls (twenty of the
twenty-seven girls observed); they were white and from middle- to upper-
middle-class families. Younger and older children, boys as well as girls, were
also observed. Approximately twenty percent came from Quaker families.
The Game
I chose to focus on the game of foursquare for a variety of reasons. In the set-
ting observed, this game has been almost exclusively child-initiated and sus-
tained for at least twenty years. It is played year-round with very few seasonal
diversions, and it is played in a relatively small, well-defined space at each play-
ing (a court painted on a paved area of the playground). This allowed for easy
observation of the same game over an extended period of time with no need
for research manipulation. Further, the structure of this game required explicit
statements about the rules prior to each round of play, allowing ample op-
portunity to explore relationships between stated rules and action.
Foursquare is a relatively common and widely distributed playground
116 CHILDREN'S GAMES AND GAMING
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? ? game. It was apparently first introduced via physical education classes (see
Farina, Furth and Smith 1959; Fait, 1964), but it has long been a folk game
in many settings (see, for example, Lindsay and Palmer 1981). Foursquare
would generally be categorized as an individual (nonteam) ball-bouncing
game, with a "leader" or "central person" (Gump and Sutton-Smith 1955),
whose outcome depends upon a mixture of skill and strategy (Roberts and
Sutton-Smith 1962). In the setting observed for this study, the game would
be described as follows:
Foursquare is played with a large, red, rubber ball on a square court,
approximately twelve feet on a side, which is further divided into four equal
squares. It may be played by any number of players, with a minimum of five
(four active players, one of whom occupies each of the four squares, and a
fifth player who replaces any player who is out of the game).
The first player to arrive for recess commonly stands in one of the
squares, called the "king" square. When the remaining squares have been
filled, any additional players form a line next to the court. They enter the
game in order as the active players are out, leave the court and join the end
of the line.
The game begins when the player occupying the "king" square calls
a set of rules for the round of play that follows. Calls may invoke a set of
rules ("my rules," "Debbie rules," "regular rules"), or selectively allow or
prohibit one or more specific actions ("wings," "no spins," duckfeet is
out"). After calling the rules, the "king" serves the ball to one of the other
players by bouncing the ball in that player's square. The ball is bounced from
player to player until one of the players fails to return it to another player's
square, or until the ball bounces more than once in a player's square. That
player is out, leaves the court, and goes to the end of the line of players wait-
ing to get into the game. The remaining three players rotate toward the
"king's" square, filling in the vacant square, and the first player in line en-
ters the game at the square farthest from the "king. " The "king" again calls
the rules and serves the ball to begin a new round of play.
Methods
I conducted this study in two distinct phases (observations followed by in-
terviews), and employed a wide range of methodological techniques. This
was designed to allow conclusions based not only upon participant and ob-
server, but also upon a confluence of evidence derived from multiple per-
spectives on the same events. During both phases, I placed primary empha-
sis on eliciting children's own terminology, and on understanding events, as
much as possible, as they did.
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? ? Observations
I observed a total of twenty-three half-hour recess periods; foursquare was
played during fourteen of these sessions. I dictated my observations into a
tape recorder for transcription and elaboration immediately following each
session. All entries included the identities of individual players, their roles
in the game, the order in which players entered and left the game, and the
rules in effect for each round of play.
I focused on different aspects of play during different sessions. These
included patterns of ball movement among the players; the kinds of talk that
occurred during play, while waiting in line-in disputes, discussions, and
demonstrations; the conditions under which players were "out" versus given
a "takeover"; attempts to modify the rules, successful and unsuccessful; and
photographic documentation of nonverbal communication. I always paid
particular attention to disputes, and to other contexts in which players were
called upon to explain or justify their actions. I also informally queried play-
ers about events in the game, and occasionally played the game myself. I
regularly visited classrooms and the staff lounge to gather information about
the broader school context.
Interviews
In the spring of 1981, I intensively interviewed ten girls representing "regu-
lar" foursquare players in nine sessions of a half-hour to an hour. I always
interviewed the players in groups, rather than individually, to allow discus-
sion among participants, encourage the use of shared terminology, and al-
low the kinds of side-exchanges that often reveal private meanings. I also
took care to interview girls from the same social cliques both together and
in combination with girls from different social circles, to encourage chal-
lenges to any one interpretation of what happened in the game. Interviews
ranged widely over topics spontaneously raised by children, as well as fo-
cusing more narrowly on the rules of their game and its play. During the
interviews, different groups of players also were asked to sort various game
rules, written on 3" x 5" cards, into categories, and to explain their criteria
for distinguishing between different types of rules.
Analysis
I used the juxtaposition of information derived from field observation, par-
ticipant observation, and interviews, along with informant evaluations, to
generate and check my understanding of principles underlying the playing
of foursquare in this group. I transcribed all observations and interviews and
indexed them for mention or occurrence of particular players, rules, and
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? ? roles, and for instances of disagreements, apologies, excuses, explanations,
demonstrations, and instruction in which players were called upon to some-
how explain or justify their actions.
I constructed a structural model of the game to represent meaning-
ful gaming units (such as "calls," "serves," and "outs") as a network of
nodes (von Cranach 1982) or junctures at which alternative courses were
possible. I further characterized each unit and juncture in terms of variations
in player actions and players' responses to those variations, in order to iden-
tify what players perceived to be acceptable versus unacceptable conduct in
the game (see Fig. 2). I also constructed an elaborated glossary and taxonomy
of game rules (L. Hughes 1989) based on the rule sorts conducted during
interviews (see Table 2). Players' own criteria for distinguishing among vari-
ous rule types and functions provided additional evidence concerning gen-
eral principles underlying play. Further analyses focused on relationships
between stated rules and action, the rhetoric and politics of actual rule us-
age, and issues of strategy and style as performances are managed and modu-
lated toward preferred interpretations.
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? ?
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? ? 6 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS
OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
FROM CHILDREN
Gary Alan Fine
Most chapters in this Source book cover some aspect of childlore, provid-
ing a descriptive account of the range and content of that genre. This chap-
ter has a different goal. I wish to describe techniques for effectively collect-
ing children's lore of all types. While no absolute methodological rules ex-
ist, there are guidelines with general validity.
Because of social, cognitive, and physiological differences between
children and adults, the techniques of collecting from children are not nec-
essarily identical to the techniques of collecting from adult informants. Un-
fortunately, the major methodological guides to folklore collecting either do
not discuss collecting from children (Ives 1974; Dorson 1972) or only briefly
cover the topic (Goldstein 1964, 150-54). General research dicta do not
cover the special challenges faced by those who collect childlore.
Folklore has traditionally relied on multiple methodologies. Among
the most prominent of these techniques are reminiscences, interviews and
diaries, surveys and questionnaires, observation, and experiments. ' Ideally,
a multimethod approach generates the most complete and richest analysis,
although researchers recognize that this is not always possible because of
financial and time constraints.
In describing each methodology I will discuss its ethical implications,
and how research can be conducted to protect the rights and dignity of in-
formants. Three criteria are essential for an ethical research technique: (1)
no harm must be done to the subject, physical, social, or psychological; (2)
the subject must not be deceived by the researcher, unless such deception is
an integral and necessary part of the research; and (3) subjects must be given
informed consent as to the nature of their participation, giving them the free-
dom to withdraw at any point if they choose. Most universities and colleges
have established Institutional Review Boards to examine ethical issues in
research with human subjects; folklorists affiliated with a college or univer-
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? ? sity who are planning to conduct research should contact these committees
to gain their approval before collecting data. Although university regulations
differ, committee approval is generally required. Most federal grants require
official approval of research procedures, but even unfunded research is of-
ten subject to the same requirements. Although this may appear to be an
impediment to research, such collective validation of one's research tech-
niques prevents personal desires from obscuring ethical concerns. Further,
and of more pragmatic importance, with institutional approval comes uni-
versity sponsorship and insurance. The University of Minnesota, for example,
will cover investigators for up to three million dollars per subject for any
injury caused during research. Any folklorist who has transported a group
of rowdy children in heavy traffic can appreciate the protection offered.
Research with children poses ethical issues, because children have not
reached the age of consent and because of the dynamics of role relationships
between adults and children. Most discussions of ethical issues are based on
the assumption that the research relationship is among peers; this research
fiction cannot be maintained when working with children, however. One
must recognize the legitimate roles of parents and guardians.
REMINISCENCES
Many early folklore researchers interested in children's traditional culture
have asked adults to recall the games that they played when they were young.
While some collectors also observed and interviewed children, they were
particularly interested in adult reminiscences. It is difficult to determine the
proportion of the games and variants collected by Lady Gomme and W. W.
Newell (or for that matter later by the Opies and the Knapps) that derived
from adult reminiscences, since none of these admirable works specified their
informants, an unfortunate tradition in studies of children's folklore. Memo-
ries of the activities of childhood, however, play a major role in most col-
lections of childlore.
Why should this be so? There are reasons, both pragmatic and theo-
retical, for relying upon adult memories. Pragmatically, adult collectors can
easily obtain information from their peers. Often this information is not
collected through face-to-face contact, but through correspondence. The
folklorist can efficiently obtain a large sheaf of childlore at little cost. Col-
lecting from adults through the mail also encourages a geographically di-
verse collection of material without the burdens of travel. This research tech-
nique also provides data in usable form, as most of the correspondents will
communicate in serviceable prose. Since adults are being asked directly for
information, ethical issues are minimized.
12. METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? Collecting from adults also has theoretical justifications.
If one be-
lieves that folklore is disappearing or disintegrating (Dundes 1969a), folk-
lorists are obligated to collect material rapidly, particularly emphasizing tra-
ditions of previous generations. In collecting from parents rather than their
children, one uncovers traditions from a time in which children's traditions
flourished to a greater extent than they currently do. The older one's infor-
mant, it is believed, the better will be the quality of one's data. Although
this belief is discredited today, especially in childlore, it explains why remi-
niscences were considered valuable data.
A second theoretical justification for using adult reminiscences is
based on Hans Naumann's theory of gesunkenes Kulturgut. Supporters of
this theory argue that folklore is transmitted downward in social hierarchies.
The traditions of the rich become the traditions of the poor, and the tradi-
tions of adults eventually become the traditions of children. This perspec-
tive, also no longer widely accepted by contemporary folklorists, suggests
that by collecting children's lore from adults one might be able to obtain less
corrupted versions of childlore.
A possible third justification for collecting adult reminiscences, al-
though not currently posited, is that this method might generate an impor-
tant research tradition of its own. By collecting data from adult informants
one can examine the structure of memory: How do adults recall their child-
hood (and "childish") activities and how do they express these activities?
While such research is limited because of the difficulty, if not the impossi-
bility, of obtaining records of how adults actually played these folk games
when children, we do have descriptive studies of the games of the previous
generation.
Despite the potential for research, most folklorists are hesitant to use
reminiscences as their sole methodology in any reasonably complete study
of childlore, although reminiscences may be a valuable source of supplemen-
tary or confirmatory information.
INTERVIEWS AND DIARIES
Interviewing children is a common technique for collecting folklore. This
methodology can be as straightforward as a conversation. Children are ei-
ther asked to explain their traditions (essentially through free association)
or they are given topics (games, jokes, riddles) and then asked to expand
on these through directed recall. Interviewing can be conducted with indi-
vidual children or with a group (McDowell 1979), and can be focused on
one genre or can cover several. The competent interviewer must establish
and maintain trust with the informant. Often folklorists strive to collect tra-
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? ? ditions that children communicate to each other away from adults (Fine
1981). That proves particularly thorny when one is interviewing children
with whom one is not acquainted and when the interview involves "sensi-
tive"--obscene or aggressive-subject matter. Despite this difficulty, impor-
tant interview studies of children have been conducted (Grider 1976), and
some obscene material collected (R. Turner 1974).
Parallel to the interview is the directed performance or the "induced
natural context" (Goldstein 1967b; Goldstein 1964, 87-90). In collecting
verbal lore such as riddles, one can simply ask one's informants to perform
them. But what about folk genres that involve acting-or example, games,
and folk drama? Here the folklorist may gather a group of children and re-
quest that they demonstrate their traditions. Elizabeth Tucker (1977, 1980a)
asked the members of the Girl Scout troop she led to act out stories in or-
der to earn merit badges. Although the girls created the skits, they did so at
the behest of the researcher. Researchers who request that children play a
particular game transform an interview into a "dramatic" event. This dif-
fers from naturalistic situations that characterize observation and ethnog-
raphy (see the chapters by Beresin and Hughes in this volume).
Folklorists working with children may ask their informants to keep a
diary of their activities. This technique is similar to a written interview or remi-
niscences telescoped in time. Rather than asking the children what they did
in the past, they are asked to write down what they do as they do it. To the
extent that children take this task seriously, one can examine how folk activ-
ity is situated in time and space. The diary writing skills of children may de-
pend on their age, maturity, and motivation, but, if all one requests is a docu-
mentary record of who did what when and with whom, diaries are useful.
Ethical issues are typically not pressing when conducting interviews
because deception is rarely involved and little or no harm can result. Still,
one must consider "informed consent. " Fortunately it is relatively easy to
explain to child, parent, guardian, and supervisor what one hopes to col-
lect. By describing the genre and the need for studies of children's traditions,
both child and adult can be informed of the value of participation. Research-
ers who wish to collect obscene or aggressive lore, however, may find that
their options are limited. Here the researcher may be deliberately vague about
what is being collected by stating that what is wanted is the "full range of
children's traditions," hoping to gain the child's trust and that the adult will
not be within earshot. That skirts the edge of ethical acceptability. Although
scholars should not oppose collecting obscene lore, one might object to se-
cretive strategies that do not involve the consent of parents or guardians.
One technique of avoiding the problem is to avoid the topic unless one's in-
12. 4 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? formant spontaneously raises it. Even though the folklorist does not raise
sensitive topics, some parents may object to the researcher who does not
prevent the child from expressing this material.
Another ethical problem, perhaps more significant for folklore stud-
ies than for any other discipline, is that of confidentiality and attribution.
In most social-scientific research, one explains to informants that their names
will never be used. Occasionally, when the information is unique (as in psy-
chiatric case studies or life histories of deviants), attribution could harm the
informant. In contrast, in the humanities one assumes that all informants
will be fully identified and may even share in the royalties. It would be lu-
dicrous to publish a poem or reproduce a painting without identifying the
poet or painter-even if the artist is a child. People deserve credit (and fi-
nancial rewards) for their creations.
A discipline squarely situated between the humanities and the social
sciences, folklore occupies an awkward position. Material collected from
informants might, under certain circumstances, be harmful or embarrassing,
and yet, simultaneously, might be an aesthetic performance that deserves
credit. Although folklorists do not often consider the ethical ramifications
of their work, a hidden and painful contradiction exists. Folklorists know
of the psychological and social harm that even well-intentioned publicity can
cause a folk informant, even when that folk informant requests that the work
be identified. Fame can be a harsh taskmaster. When one deals with adults,
and particularly when one's research focuses on a few informants, probably
the most ethically justified stance is to allow the informants to choose how
and where they will be identified. The folklorist should point out the fore-
seeable advantages and drawbacks, perhaps signing a contract that permits
remuneration. With numerous informants, informants are not usually iden-
tified by name because no individual's contribution is so central as to be-
come the focus of attention.
In conducting research with children the ethical problems are more
difficult, because children may not have the competence to foresee what is
best for them. In instances in which a small number of children is highlighted
(particularly in those studies that emphasize "artistic" genres-a fiendishly
difficult judgment) parents might be asked, with royalties placed in a trust
fund (royalties, for example, from record albums or published life histories).
The standard practice when collecting from many children should be to avoid
using the children's names, but only their age, sex, place of residence, and,
sometimes, ethnic background. Although this procedure denies "credit,"
most folklorists would agree that it is an ethically defensible position.
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? ? SURVEYS AND QUESTIONNAIRES
We most frequently think of surveys as election-year devices for measuring
the public mood. A survey is essentially a structured interview given to a large
number of individuals. Often the questions require the respondent to select
among a limited set of options,2 although that is not always required. Sur-
veys can be carried out face-to-face, over the telephone, or by written re-
spondent responses. The basic advantages of the survey are that one can
collect a lot of data quickly and, depending on the circumstances, it can be
done with minimal effort. One may employ a random or representative
sample. If one asks questions that require numerical answers or that have
categories of answers, statistical tests are possible (see Fine 1979a). One
should at least be able to compare answers or among groups, something not
always possible with the smaller number of participants in most in-depth
interview studies.
Some surveys are quite extensive. Mary and Herbert Knapp (1976)
in their study of American childlore collected questionnaires from children
throughout the United States. An even more extensive national survey was
conducted in Finland:
[I used] as my main material unstructured descriptions written by chil-
dren and young people. The material used in this book is taken largely
from the results of a collective effort organised in Finnish schools in
1969, in which over 30,000 writers, mostly aged between ten and eigh-
teen, took part. This body of material is not suitable for statistical analy-
sis, but it gives a vivid and many-sided picture of the life of the tradi-
tion and its social basis. . . . For instance game-starting situations are
described in writings which had as title "How a game starts in the
yard," play-languages are described under the heading "How I learnt
the secret language," and so on . . . Teachers were asked to emphasise
that the writers were free to write as they wished, without worrying
about grammar or spelling. They were also asked to write truthfully,
directly, without embellishment, and using slang and swear words
where necessary. Many of the writers delighted in taking advantage of
the freedom thus offered them. (Virtanen 1978, 10)
Although the author does not detail the nature of the sample or how this
sample was selected, this research is an example of national surveys found
in Europe produced with the support of a national folklore commission. Such
studies are useful in delineating the range of folklore within a nation.
Surveys that depend on numerical or categorical responses allow folk-
i6 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? lorists to estimate how frequently a folk tradition is performed, how many
perform or know of it, the characteristics of active or passive tradition bear-
ers, and the occasions on which this tradition is performed. The open-ended
questionnaire does not permit this type of systematic analysis, but it does
display what is performed and how it is performed. The technique seems
particularly appropriate for obtaining texts of short or fixed forms, such as
riddles and folk speech.
The basic problem with these approaches is that the researcher is lim-
ited by the questions asked. Anyone who has conducted open-ended inter-
views is aware that the answers one receives direct the next questions. That
is impossible in a structured survey in which the order of questions is pre-
determined. When one is questioning hundreds or thousands of informants,
some structure is necessary. A related problem is that questionnaire re-
sponses, even those based on open-ended questions, are not very detailed,
and one may not learn about what folk traditions mean for one's informant.
The researcher receives a description of the content, form, or even context
of the folk tradition, but its personal or communal significance is absent.
Researchers must ensure that children understand the questions asked
them-an obvious but sometimes overlooked point. It is crucial when the
survey is designed to be completed by children of various ages. One won-
ders about the scope or utility of a questionnaire that can be understood by
children between the ages of eight and eighteen. Such a questionnaire must
be designed for the youngest child; as a consequence, one loses valuable in-
formation from older children.
The ethical problems in survey research are relatively straightforward,
similar to those of interviewing. Neither deception nor possible harm are
significant dangers, as long as confidentiality is maintained. Informed con-
sent may be a troubling issue for those questionnaires distributed in school,
where it is not always possible for parents to be made aware of what their
children are asked to complete.
OBSERVATIONAL METHODOLOGIES
The methodologies I have described above ask children (or adults) to talk
about things, rather than do things (excepting the performance interview).
In contrast, in observational methodologies the field researcher views chil-
dren interacting in their "natural" environment. A long tradition of obser-
vational work in folklore (Newell 1903 [1963]), in psychology (Sherif and
Sherif 1964), and in sociology (Thrasher 1927) exists. Indeed, observation
is likely the most popular methodology for research on children's culture.
Through observation one feels that one is learning what children "really"
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? ? do, and not what they can be made to do or say.
Researchers conduct observational studies in several ways, enacting
different roles. Some researchers, particularly those examining child devel-
opment, observe "systematically. " They have a predetermined category sys-
tem, and every time a behavior occurs that is covered by their categories,
they make a notation. This approach, appropriate for certain research ques-
tions, is rarely applicable to children's culture because it doesn't allow re-
searchers to capture the meaning, content, or context of the child's behav-
ior. Category systems are generally too confining for folklore research.
More relevant to the collection of childlore is what has been variously
called "ethnography," "participant observation," or "unsystematic obser-
vation. " Here the observer attempts to capture what children are doing
as accurately and as completely as possible (Fine and Sandstrom 1988).
The children's performances are rarely directed, so one weakness of obser-
vation is that one may have to wait a long time for anything interesting to
happen.
The adult "participant" observer can select one of several roles. They
include that of the supervisor, leader, observer, and friend (Fine and Glassner
1979; Fine 1980a). The role that the adult researcher adopts affects accep-
tance by the children as well as the content and context of children's cul-
ture that can be observed.
FIGURE 1. Roles of Adult Researchers in Observational Settings
With Children
Direct Authority
Positive
Contact
Present
Absent
Present
Leader
Supervisor
Absent
Friend
Observer
From Fine and Glassner 1979, 156.
Supervisor
The supervisor is a researcher who has direct control over the child, yet lacks
positive contact. Supervisors may be teachers, camp supervisors, or religious
instructors. This role provides access to a relatively limited range of children's
culture. The preadolescent must follow the orders of the authority when
under observation; as a result, behavior often differs when the supervisor is
absent. Children carefully manage the impressions that adults have of them
(Fine 1987). Although the observed behavior may be natural, it does not
I28 METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF COLLECTING FOLKLORE
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? ? represent the range of behaviors of preadolescents. With this research role,
many barriers between adults and children cannot be eliminated. Supervi-
sors will be uncomfortable collecting sensitive traditions from children, al-
though they may be confident in their authority.
Leader
The leader is essentially a supervisor with positive contact, a friendly teacher,
Little League coach, or scoutmaster. A wider range of childhood behaviors
are displayed in front of a leader and, even if preadolescents overstep the
line, some tolerance typically will be shown by the adult; the frame of ref-
erence for all behavior when the leader is present, however, is that of the
adult. Preadolescents may feel constrained to act "politely" so as not to
embarrass their adult leader, and that may prevent them from behaving in
"naughty" ways, which may be precisely what the researcher wishes to ob-
serve. Their respect is a barrier for the adult who wishes to understand
childlore.
Observer
The observer role is the inverse of the leader role. The observer is an adult
who lacks both formal authority and affective ties, who rather stands back
and watches. Although preadolescents do not try to gain this person's ap-
proval, neither do they admit the observer into their confidence. Children
know which of their activities upsets adults, and may avoid them when
strangers are present. Some preadolescent groups watch out for adults and
change their behavior accordingly. The pure observer has no more right to
observe preadolescent behavior than has any member of the public, although
that depends on how the observer presents the research. Because of the ab-
sence of positive relations, questioning preadolescents about sensitive top-
ics is difficult. The observer witnesses behavior, but its meanings and moti-
vations are frequently opaque.
