Educational and social science investigations are broadly classified as either qualitative or quantitative in form. In the first part of this chapter, we discuss the decision to study family computing qualitatively. Then, we review some of the study's more salient fieldwork activities and log-analysis procedures. In the final section, we compare the seventy families studied. To simplify the discussion, the words “we” and “our” are used throughout the book, even though Bauer and Levin were not involved in the early SITE decision making and fieldwork.

PRIOR RESEARCH ON EDUCATIONAL HOME COMPUTING

At the time the SITE study was designed, information about children's educational computing at home was largely found in articles in the popular press and in computer magazines. These articles were based on market researchers’ quantitative surveys about computer hardware and software and on reporters’ qualitative portrayals of families. Both approaches to gaining information about educational computing at home, however, contained serious flaws.

The measurement and sampling methods of the early market surveys left their findings suspect. The assessment of educational computing in families was usually peripheral to the main purpose) of these marketing surveys, and respondents were simply asked to indicate whether their computers were being used for educational purposes or whether they had specific types of educational software.