構築主義的エスノグラフィーによる学校臨床研究の可能性 : 調査方法論の検討を中心に(<特集>教育臨床の社会学)  [in Japanese] The Movement toward the Ethnography of Constructionism : A Multivoicing Approach to the Politics of School Problems(<Special Issue>Clinical Educational Sociology)  [in Japanese]

This paper examines the importance of ethnography using the theory of constructionism, especially toward the understanding and improvement of educational problems. Conventionally, ethnography involved the researcher understanding a fact subjectively, and the method of applying an analytic diagram and understanding. Both methods adopted the ontological perspective of observation and investigation. However, researchers can learn facts interpreted by the people of a community and through the stories that they retell. This method is called the ethnography of constructionism. The characteristic of this method is that it is not concerned over whether something is a fact or not, but rather tries to grasp correctly what people of the local place tell. In other words, the investigation is the ethnography of a tale, and since the aim of investigation is to discover facts, the task becomes understanding a tale. The researcher is a partner in a dialog, and the research serves as the practice of the dialog. Is there no method to employ such ethnography effectively? Until now, research following the principle of construction has analyzed public discourse using public records. However, the ethnography of trouble has recently been presented. Trouble indicates problems for the people of the local place, or things that are topics for them. For example, students and teachers understand that there are problems in schools today. How do they cope with these troubles in school education? When teachers and students are interviewed, their understandings differ depending on their positions. In particular, it is easy for those in positions of power to spread understanding on educational problems in a way that are beneficial to them. While those with a strong position can express a strong dominant narrative which creates trust in people, the narrative of those in a weak position is rarely heard by many people. The former is a dominant narrative and the latter is an alternative narrative. This relation is called the politics of a narrative. The task of the researcher is to listen carefully to the tale of those in a weak position, compile the tale, and transmit it to many people through a report. In this way, the researcher adjusts the dynamics of the narrative. This perspective of research practice is called "polyvocality." As a case study, the features of the narrative of a dropout student and other students are analyzed, and compared with those of the teacher's narrative. Such research uses the ethnography of constructionism and is considered to be a "clinical method."