79
7.3 IfethodOlogy'of the study
7.31 Methodology-Strelley
Four sources of information were available:
(1) documents; reports, internal and external; the
community newsletter
(2) interviews with ’important men’
(3) interviews with non-Aboriginal staff
(4) student data
(1) Documentation
The Community Newsletter, intended to promote literacy
programmes both in English and the vernacular, prints articles by
the important men where they commit their philosophy to writing.
The final version is carefully checked with the men for accuracy
and reflection of meaning. Such articles are a valuable alternative
to interviews for ascertaining the meaning given to the particular
’world’ at Strelley.
In addition, there are the reports of the Principal of the
school, submissions made by the group to Government bodies and a
report on the schooling at Strelley by Harris (1980). Several
biographies of individuals of the group have been written. All
of these were used as source material .∙
L
*
1
ɪ
1
(2) Interviews with’important men’
H
Interview areas were constructed from a survey of the literature
, . , ∙ ∙ 2
on tradition-oriented school communities .
The possibility of interviews with important men depended
upon their view of the research being undertaken, and the trust
they were willing to offer to the research worker.
ɪsee Appendix IV, p. S08, for a list of documentation
^A copy of the interview schedule and a full account of its construction
is found in Appendix V, pp. S09ff.
F
