Comp 2-EN111

Primary Research Investigations

Becoming an Active Researcher!

Showing your Evidence...

According to an article on studying research communities, many of the characteristics people think of for their group show that they are part of an information network (Hemstrom & Anders 185).

Thinking about the importance of citing and providing evidence in our work...

While this research has so far discussed X topic on discourse commumity there is something to be said about our roles in the group. In an important moment within the text the authors state:

The Conversational nature of information in research communities means that even as a new member joining a community you have a voice to contribute. When you formulate responses to authors in your community, whether by citing them, evaluating them, or directly responding, you are entering the conversation. Researching is an active, not a passive, effort. It may be helpful to you to think of yourself as having a discussion with other people pursuing a similar goal when you create information and texts in a research community (Hemstrom & Anders 189).

Thinking about the importance of citing and providing evidence in our work...

There are many concepts that connect to what a discourse community is and many research studies on my group show this. According to an article on researching diverse groups, Seeley et al. states "Regardless of the discourse community, gaining membership and authority involves recognizing the social context that surrounds communication" (292).

Thinking about the importance of citing and providing evidence in our work...

If Secondary Research is about information and knowledge that has already been written, conducted, researched…What is Primary Research?

Thinking about different Research Lenses...

Using and Understanding Two Types of Sources Video

What are qualities or factors of PRIMARY RESEARCH important for your discourse community or major? Spend a few minutes jotting down what PRIMARY RESEARCH looks like for the discourse community you are researching. What is important to prove or gather evidence on being a part of this group? What do they value?

Take 3-5 mintues to jot down some ideas on this and then we will share. Call your Doc: Pre-Primary Research Ideas

Research that is produced rather than found
Information collected firsthand
Based on John Stuart Mill’s Philosophy of Scientific Method
Researcher engages in a hypothesis-driven investigation
Researcher collects data/evidence
Research supports ongoing study or investigation that impacts others in the field/community.

Primary Research Fact List

- Observations: Participant and Unobtrusive methods (e.g. job shadow, classroom visit, office visit, being on the sidelines and reporting)
- Interviews: Questions to support either deductive or inductive reasoning
  - Deductive Reasoning – Start with hypothesis or known idea and gather evidence to support it
  - Inductive Reasoning – Start with a question and collect information that supports a conclusion.
- Surveys: Questionnaire with a mix of closed and open-ended question about your topic to generate numerical data:
  - Likert Scale – On a scale of 1-10
  - Not very likely – More than likely
  - 1=not very important, 5=very important

Primary Research Methods

Expand on information that may not be widely known about
Expand on a local/regional issue that has larger, global impacts
Shows and develops greater researcher ethos – YOU become the investigator!
Shows an active role in your discourse community as a passionate researcher
Gain insights, behaviors, and commentary we might not have known about before.
Shows a concern for human subjects in your discourse community and telling their story.

Why We need more Primary Research in our Writing...

One area of primary research you should engage in with you projects are conducting, recording, and transcribing interviews. This means you will ask questions, record the interview (e.g. via the Microphone tool in Notability, Phone or video recovering, Garage band for Macs etc.).

We will practice in class today constructing at least 6-8 solid interview questions you want to ask members of your discourse community. Thinking about what you’ve currently written about your discourse community, practice drafting these questions as potential ones you will ask participants. Later, we will partner up and share the types of questions we created and see how they worked.

Day 1 Activity: Interviews

Narrow down the topic and focus to get a concrete answer,
Focusses on a specific issue important to the participant;
Where necessary, defines a key term or concept (e.g. like discourse community, genre, lexis) and ask participants their thoughts on the matter;
Call out a recent event or situation that the participant can draw on;
Help the researcher illustrate the mindset, ideologies, and focus on their discourse community members.

AVOID these types of questions: Closed Questions or Basic Yes/No Scenarios; Questions that are too broad (e.g. How do you feel about football? How do you feel about X majors on a national level? What is a discourse community?); Asking for sensitive information – for these types of situations, participants may either ask to remain anonymous in which you can create a pseudonym (fake name) for them.

Day 1 Activity: Interviews

Good Questions Will...

Primary Research Process

Do I have participants that can be interviewed? What should I ask them about to support my writing? What evidence do I need? How will I record and transcribe interviews?

1

Do I have the chance to observe my community at work? What details should I include in my observation? Should I follow this up with an interview?

2

Should I create and send out a survey to increase my qualitative and quantitative data results?

3

Day 2: Surveys Activity

Another quality of primary research is whether you have qualitative or quantitative date in your findings.

What do we mean by qualitative? (Hint: Quality) What does this look like?

What do we mean by quantitative? (Hint: Quantity) What does this look like?

Day 2: Surveys Activity

Qualitative = emphasis is on participant responses and analysis on what, how, why responders feel the way they do about a question.

Descriptions mean more than numbers/stats
Emphasis is more on research subject responses
Tends to be more effective at establishing themes in research or perspectives.
Case Analysis, Retrospective Analysis

Quantitative = emphasis is more on data sets and how the volume of responders can be used to make conclusions based on numbers & percentages.

Graphs and charts play a big role in findings
Likert scale (1-5 stars, Very Likely to Not Very Likely) help quantify results to show patterns/trends
Numbers/stats more convincing in specific fields.

Day 2: Surveys Activity

Generating your own qualitative/quantitative results with surveys!

Today, you will want to make use of Microsoft Forms or Google Forms with practicing how survey creation and mass distribution of your survey can really help engage research participants with questions helpful to your primary research process.

Microsoft Forms: Go to Eagle Mail (website/browser); Click on 9 dots at top and select Microsoft Forms app to get started creating. You may also have the Forms App on your Ipad

Google Forms: You need a Google account and access to Google Drive - select New and Google Forms to get started creating.

The Value of both Participant and Unobtrusive Observations... (Driscoll 160)
Participant Observation - commonly used within ethnographic studies within sociology, anthropology, etc. Emphasis is on joint interaction with the community during events.
Unobtrusive Observation - Recording of behaviors, events, activities, interactions, without interaction. In public spaces for instance, these types of observations do not have to be voluntary.

Observations

WHERE would your observation take place and what uses would it have? Observations are field data collected during a specific event or session with a group. Other questions to think about while taking notes:

What might the D.C. use this space/environment for?
What could the displays/artifacts suggest about the D.C.?
The Group sets itself up like…
Tools and equipment I noticed were…
I think certain participants in this community would do…
I have a question about...