Some folklore Ieseaicheis use preexisting pIint or electronic media as the sources of primary infOImation (fOI example, studies of the apparent scope, chamcter. and function of folklore materials in commercial advertising or political speeches or folklore in the works of Homer, Shakespeare, and Mark Twain or folklore on the Internet). But such studies are predicated on ideas of folklore derived from fieldwork. M ilman Parry and Albert Lord’s hypothetical and theoretical work on the nature of Homeric peiformance and composition was extrapolated from their extensive fieldwork among Serbian epic singers. They were able to assert that certain. materials in classical texts were grounded in folklore performance and transmission only because their fieldwork let them understand the character of such perfonnance and transmission. Even folklore scholars whose work is totally theoretical are dependent for the substance underlying their generalizations and speculation on the field, work of others. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to theorize cogently and relevantly about the meaning of folklore in a community unless someone had first gathered information about what folklore exists in that community and what functions the folklore performs. Comparative folklore studies (texts or behaviors from different places or times compared for differences in aesthetic or functional aspects) is predicated on the quality and scope of the field’gathv cred material.