Composing Research by
Cindy Johanek offers a new perspective on the ideological conflict between qualitative and quantitative research approaches, and the theories of knowledge that inform them. With a paradigm that is sensitive to the context of one's research questions, she argues, scholars can develop less dichotomous forms that invoke the strengths of both research traditions. Context-oriented approaches can lift the narrative from beneath the numbers in an experimental study, for example, or bring the useful clarity of numbers to an ethnographic study. A pragmatic scholar, Johanek moves easily across the boundaries that divide the field, and argues for contextualist theory as a lens through which to view composition research. This approach brings with it a new focus, she writes. "This new focus will call us to attend to the contexts in which rhetorical issues and research issues converge, producing varied forms, many voices, and new knowledge, indeed reconstructing a discipline that will be simultaneously focused on its tasks, its knowledge-makers, and its students." Composing Research is a work full of personal voice and professional commitment and will be a welcome addition to the research methods classroom and to the composition researcher's own bookshelf. 2000 Outstanding Scholarship Award from the International Writing Centers Association.
Methods and Methodology in Composition Research by
In original essays, fourteen nationally known scholars examine the practical, philosophical, and epistemological implications of a variety of research traditions. Included are discussions of historical, theoretical, and feminist scholarship; case-study and ethnographic research; text and conversation analysis; and cognitive, experimental, and descriptive research. Issues that cross methodological boundaries, such as the nature of collaborative research and writing, methodological pluralism, the classification and coding of research data, and the politics of composition research, are also examined. Contributors reflect on their own research practices, and so reflect the current state of composition research itself.
Writing Studies Research in Practice by
An essential reference for students and scholars exploring the methods and methodologies of writing research. What does it mean to research writing today? What are the practical and theoretical issues researchers face when approaching writing as they do? What are the gains or limitations of applying particular methods, and what might researchers be overlooking? These questions and more are answered by the writing research field's leading scholars in Writing Studies Research in Practice: Methods and Methodologies. Editors Nickoson and Sheridan gather twenty chapters from leaders in writing research, spanning topics from ethical considerations for researchers, quantitative methods, and activity analysis to interviewing and communitybased and Internet research. While each chapter addresses a different subject, the volume as a whole covers the range of methodologies, technologies, and approaches--both old and new--that writing researchers use, and examines the ways in which contemporary writing research is understood, practiced, and represented. An essential reference for experienced researchers and an invaluable tool to help novices understand research methods and methodologies, Writing Studies Research in Practice includes established methods and knowledge while addressing the contemporary issues, interests, and concerns faced by writing researchers today.
Duoethnography by
Duoethnography is a collaborative research methodology in which two or more researchers engage in a dialogue on their disparate histories in a given phenomenon. Their goal is to interrogate and re-conceptualize existing beliefs through a conversation that is written in a play-script format. The methodology of duoethnography serves as the focus of this book. Duoethnography facilitates stratified, nested, auto-ethnographic accounts of a given research context or question, designed to emphasize the complex, reflexive, and aesthetic aspects of both the work in process and the product. As a curriculum and a research method, duoethnography explores two seminal issues: representation in qualitative research (how to represent findings when findings are created within a dynamic phenomenonological text), and praxis (how research contributes to a sense of personal change). Duoethnography allows researchers to explore their hybrid identities and to see how their lives have been situated socially and culturally. Recent duoethnographic studies have examined a range of topics, including forms of institutionalized racism, beauty, post-colonialism, multicultural identity construction, and professional boundaries between patient and practitioner in mental health professions.
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research by
Fundamentals of Qualitative Research approaches qualitative inquiry as a strategically selected composite of genres, elements, and styles. Saldaña, author of the bestselling book, The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, brings clear writing and explanatory prowess to this new textbook for learning the fundamentals of qualitative research methods. This book presents a concise yet rigorous description of how to design and conduct fieldwork projects and how to examine data in multiple ways for interpretive insight. Saldaña, a master teacher and qualitative data analyst, acquaints readers with the major genres of qualitative research available and the elements of interviewing, participant observation, and other data collection methods to inform emergent research design decisions. An extended chapter on qualitative data analysis is one of the book's unique features. Saldaña devotes necessary coverage to conceptual foundations, coding, analytic memo writing, thematic analysis, assertion development, grounded theory, narrative and poetic inquiry, and ethnodramatic approaches to the data. Eight distinctive styles of qualitative writing are presented. The book concludes with a list of recommended readings in the field, as well as additional resources on organizations and associations dedicated to qualitative research. Fundamentals of Qualitative Research is an ideal introduction for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in education, sociology, psychology, anthropology, human communication, and health care.
Research Design by
The eagerly anticipated Fourth Edition of the title that pioneered the comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design is here! For all three approaches, Creswell includes a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and refl ections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry. He also presents the key elements of the research process, giving specifi c attention to each approach. The Fourth Edition includes extensively revised mixed methods coverage, increased coverage of ethical issues in research, and an expanded emphasis on worldview perspectives.
Researching the Writing Center by
Researching the Writing Center is the first book-length treatment of the research base for academic writing tutoring. The book reviews the current state of writing center scholarship, arguing that although they continue to value anecdotal and experiential evidence, practitioner-researchers must also appreciate empirical evidence as mediating theory and practice. Readers of this book will discover an evidence-based orientation to research and be able to evaluate the current scholarship on recommended writing center practice. Chapters examine the research base for current theory and practice involving the contexts of tutoring, tutoring activities, and the tutoring of «different» populations. Readers will investigate the sample research question, «What is a ‘successful’ writing consultation?» The book concludes with an agenda for future questions about writing center practice that can be researched empirically. Researching the Writing Center is intended for writing center professionals, researchers, graduate students in English, composition studies, and education, and peer tutors in training.
Writing Center Research by
There are writing centers at almost every college and university in the United States, and there is an emerging body of professional discourse, research, and writing about them. The goal of this book is to open, formalize, and further the dialogue about research in and about writing centers. The original essays in this volume, all written by writing center researchers, directly address current concerns in several ways: they encourage studies, data collection, and publication by offering detailed, reflective accounts of research; they encourage a diversity of approaches by demonstrating a range of methodologies (e.g., ethnography, longitudinal case study; rhetorical analysis, teacher research) available to both veteran and novice writing center professionals; they advance an ongoing conversation about writing center research by explicitly addressing epistemological and ethical issues. The book aims to encourage and guide other researchers, while at the same time offering new knowledge that has resulted from the studies it analyzes.
