This essay is a history of the process of completing an ethnographic study in a child care setting. It presents reflections on entering the field site, keeping field notes, and analyzing data. An exploratory study of a group of preschool children led to the selection of qualitative methods and clarified the theoretical basis for research. In completing the formal study, triangulated methods of participant observation, interviewing, and record and contextual analysis were used. The use of ethnomethodology to explore events themselves led to a dual analysis of theoretical propositions and empirical data in which theory provided a frame of reference for conducting field study and observation-based findings led to theoretical reorganization. These methods proved to be appropriate for the setting and for the sociological data collected. The role of participant-as-observer was manageable by adopting a passive attitude as adult-without-authority. The children responded to the presence of a researcher with mild curiosity. Their level of interest was evaluated reactively at the conclusion of observation. The analysis of data proceeded steadily through three phases and culminated in the full description of typologies and strategies used by the preschool children. The interpretive process of ethnographic methodology was valuable in constructing detailed, contextual information about children's everyday social behavior. (Author/RH)