Contents: Introduction; Bishop Berkeley and the adeno-tonsillectomy enigma: an exploration or variation in the social construction of medical disposals; On the analysis of observational data: a discussion of the worth and uses of inductive techniques and respondent validation; An alternative to the ethnomethodological approach to rule use? a comment on Zimmerman and Weider's comment on Denzin; Observations of abortive illness behaviour; Conceptions of therapeutic work in therapeutic communities; Surveillance and concealment: a comparison of techniques of client resistance in therapeutic communities and health visiting; Patient-centred medicine: some sociological observations on its constitution, penetration and cultural assonance; Spotting the invisible man: the influence of male gender on fieldwork relations; A minor office: the variable and socially constructed character of death certification in a Scottish city; HIV-related risk practices among Glasgow male prostitutes: reframing concepts of risk behaviour.