Comp 2-EN111
Becoming an Active Researcher!
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?
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
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.
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...
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?
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?
Should I create and send out a survey to increase my qualitative and quantitative data results?
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?
Qualitative = emphasis is on participant responses and analysis on what, how, why responders feel the way they do about a question.
Quantitative = emphasis is more on data sets and how the volume of responders can be used to make conclusions based on numbers & percentages.
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.
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:
Consult and USE the observation note-taking sheet as a resource in Canvas.