Piaget ethnographer

Although there have been extensive discussions of Piaget's theory, relative ly little attention has been given to his research methods. Indeed, where P iaget's methods have been discussed they hare generally been attacked for w hat are perceived as limitations and inadequacies, However, both in his wor k based on observations of infants and particularly in the clinical intervi ews with children and adolescents Piaget's research can be seen as a striki ng demonstration of the power of the systematic use of qualitative methods. Piaget's work in fact offers a paradigmatic example dan interpretive metho dology in developmental psychology, not only for the intimate relations bet ween interview and theory evident in all his research, but also for the arg ument through which the research is presented to the reader. As well as rev iewing the clinical interview itself this article also considers the differ ent logics of research evident in this method and in that used by Piaget's critics.