The Construction (Summary) and the Collection (Last Progress Report on the Folktale-Project). Folktale: A Cross-Cultural, Interdisciplinary Study of the Experience of Literature. Paper 14.

This paper is the last in a series of 14 detailing the procedures involved in setting up an interdisciplinary project that explores the similarities and dissimilarities in the response to literature in readers from different countries. It marks the end of the preparatory work for the "Folktale-project." The first section is an overview of the folktale project from its inception to the main data collection. The second section is a presentation of the basic assumptions that had to be set up as indisputable points, simply in order to carry out the study in the time allotted and with the resources available--over a decade. It reviews reasons behind the choice of literary material, the length of that material, the cultural imprint of that material, and the languages in which that material appeared. The third section briefly cites the procedures in the final data collection as well as the number of questionnaires completed. Contains an appendix of research material. (TB)