Becoming a Writing Researcher

Ann Blakeslee, Cathy Fleischer

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351121200
• Edizione: 2
• Argomento: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Categoria: Kreatives Schreiben

Becoming a Writing Researcher effectively guides students through the stages of conducting qualitative writing research, from the initial step of seeing themselves as researchers, to identifying research questions, selecting appropriate methodological tools, conducting the research, and interpreting and reporting findings. Exercises and activities, as well as anecdotes and examples from both novice and seasoned researchers, serve to acquaint readers thoroughly with the practice of carrying out research for scholarly or professional purposes.

This second edition introduces students to research methods in a gradual and contextualized manner. Each chapter offers a discussion of a particular portion of the research process, followed by consideration of physical, conceptual, and strategic tools that allow a master's level researcher to conduct that part of the research. Sections within each chapter also cover issues of stance and positionality that impact the researcher and the resulting research.

Becoming a Writing Researcher, second edition, is an essential text for all novice researchers and is particularly well suited for use in graduate-level research methods courses in writing studies and technical communications. It is also ideal for use in other disciplines with strong qualitative methodology research programs, including education.

1 Me, a Writing Researcher?

Once, during a student presentation in one of our graduate classes, the presenter asked everyone in the class to write down as many nouns and adjectives as we could think of that best described our roles and lives. The words people wrote ranged from “writer” to “student” to “mother” to “teacher” to “runner” to “Native American.” Interestingly, not one person listed “researcher,” despite the fact that all of these students were working on their master’s degrees, and many were also starting work on their culminating master’s research projects. For the graduate students in our program, many of whom at the time were already working professionals (both teachers and professional writers), this failure to identify themselves as researchers, we realized, may not be that uncommon. And so, as we begin this book, we invite you to think about this same question: What nouns and adjectives might you use to describe your role and life? Is researcher one of those terms?

When we look back on our own graduate experience, we realize that coming to think of ourselves as “researchers” also took time. It was not something that happened automatically when we became graduate students. For us, and for many others we know in the field of writing studies, the identity of researcher was initially a foreign one that for some of us may even have seemed very different from our other professional identities (as teachers, writers, students, and other kinds of professionals). Research was something that others did—serious scholars who devoted years to their work and who sometimes even had big grant money to support their research. For us, on the other hand, research, at this stage of our lives, was what we needed to do to write papers for our courses and to write our theses and dissertations. It was necessary for earning our degrees and, although we enjoyed it, we initially did not think of ourselves as researchers, at least, in our minds, in the same sense as the scholars whose work we read.

However, as we continued to advance in our academic work, our ideas about what it means to be a researcher changed: We started to think of ourselves as producers of research rather than just consumers of it. Along the way, we became excited about the idea of doing research, and we began to realize that we actually had something to say that might be meaningful to our disciplines. We also realized that our identities as teachers and writers could be blended with our new identity of researcher, and that we could even use our emergent identities as writing researchers to enhance our professional work. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, we realized that “doing research” was really not all that foreign to us—we actually had been carrying out research all our lives.

We Are All Researchers Already

As the title to this section suggests, we believe all of you reading this book are researchers already. Think, for example, about your own experiences with research, beginning with a focus on your personal life. In all likelihood, you have carried out research for personal reasons many times. For example, you might have done research to purchase a car, plan an event (e.g., a wedding or graduation), move to a new city, find a good graduate program, or determine the best way to finance your education. Pause for a moment to think about the personal research you have done as you read and respond to Prompt 1.1. (Throughout the text, we present prompts like these to help you explore your own experiences and ideas about research. We also provide case studies and other examples of how others have thought about and approached research.)

Prompt 1.1: Researching for Life Purposes

Reflect on a recent experience you’ve had with research in your own life. What was the experience? What were you trying to determine and what did you do to determine it? In other words, what kind of research did you do? Was your research productive and successful? Was it frustrating? Why? We recommend writing your response to this prompt as a scenario, like the one we present below.

Compare your scenario with the one that follows, written by Cathy, and note commonalities. In this scenario, the motivation for research arose from a specific personal need: the need to learn about a disease and its impact on a child’s life. To obtain information, Cathy took the following simple steps, which you also may have taken in your research:

• Searching memories and personal experiences for existing knowledge of the subject.
• Talking to others to learn from what they knew about the subject.
• Consulting outside sources (books, news articles, online sources).
• Analyzing and comparing sources and sorting through the information found.
• Arriving at new understandings that guided actions.

Sidebar 1.1: Researching for Life

Cathy: When I wrote this chapter, my husband and I were in the midst of a personally important research project involving our then 8-year-old son. After watching him experience what we called “space-outs” for a few months, we began—with our doctor’s urging—to carefully watch how often he had them and if there were any triggering circumstances. After we noted a marked increase in the number of incidents, we brought our information in to the doctor, who suggested a possible diagnosis of absence epilepsy. Our initial shock at this diagnosis was based on our limited understanding of the term and the associations that epilepsy brought to mind. We then began to read books, analyze Web sites, and talk to friends who knew children with similar diagnoses. Armed with a lot of information, we were able to talk to the doctors with some well-formed questions in mind and with an awareness of the various treatments, side effects, and long-term prognosis. As our son started a regimen of medication—a regimen we learned was very difficult to regulate—we kept a chart in which we noted each day how many seizures he had, how he slept that night, what kinds of food he ate, and any other factors that might be involved. Each time we saw the doctor, we referred to this chart and pooled our information with the doctor’s expertise in order to make sound treatment decisions.

Let’s think now about the parallels between the personal research in which we all engage and our academic research. For example, Cathy both consulted secondary sources and talked to experts on the health issue she was researching. She also carried out firsthand research: in this case, observing her son carefully to ascertain when the seizures occurred and how the drugs were affecting him. Additionally, Cathy developed a chart to organize the information she collected, using it to record her son’s responses to the medication. Cathy’s research also was ongoing (it took place over a number of months), and it had an impact on others (in Cathy’s case, her son and his doctor). It broadened both her and others’ understanding of the problem. We suspect that you can identify similar strategies and outcomes from your own research stories. You can use Prompt 1.2 to draw comparisons.

Prompt 1.2: Identifying Research Strategies

Review your own research stories and draw comparisons. What strategies did you use that were similar? What strategies did you use that were different? What did you do with the information you collected—how did you sort through and organize it? What outcomes did you achieve, and what actions did you take as a result of your research? Did anyone else benefit from your research? If so, who, and in what ways?

In addition to personal research of this sort, you have no doubt also researched and written papers in your life as a student, about numerous subjects and topics. If you have also worked as a professional, you likely have also done certain kinds of research for your job. For example, if you are a teacher, you probably have researched lesson plans and maybe even used research to explore questions (e.g., why your students have trouble revising). If you are a professional writer, you have likely carried out research on the topics about which you have written.

Prompt 1.3: Carrying Out Academic and/or Professional Research

Think of at least two occasions on which you carried out research for academic or professional purposes. What led you to carry out the research (e.g., class assignment, need or problem in your workplace, etc.)? Also, what strategies did you use, and which ones seemed most and least productive for you? Why? Finally, what did your research contribute to your work or studies, and/or how did it help you?

These scenarios and prompts are meant to make a point: You know a great deal about research already from the personal, professional, and academic research you have done throughout your life. You also already have certain steps you follow when you undertake research: steps for gathering information, analyzing it, and taking action as a result of it. And, most importantly, you know that doing research matters: It helps you make decisions and achieve results. From our vantage point, this understanding that research matters, personally and professionally, is essential in the process of coming to think like and developing an identity as a writing researcher.

So why is developing an identity as a researcher important? What does it accomplish? On the one hand, it enhances our lives as professionals. Jennifer Buehler, who taught high school English in Plymouth, Michigan, explains it this way:

Thinking like a researcher has helped me to feel more engaged as a teacher. I’m now interested in much more than the effectiveness of a simple lesson plan or assignment. Conducting research has caused me to see the students as complex people and the classroom as a complex culture. I look now with the eyes of an ethnographer, and, as a result, what I see is richer and far more challenging to process. I believe that, because of my research, I bring more thoughtfulness and insight to the classroom—reflection is now at the forefront of all I do. I am more committed to remaining a teacher than I was before becoming a researcher . . . [It’s] added depth and meaning to my work that I would not have found otherwise.

(personal communication, 1 March 2003)

Karen Reed-Nordwall, who taught middle school English in Livonia, Michigan, explains:

Research is definitely not separate from teaching. Research is teaching, just like revising is writing. I can’t believe how much my teaching has improved since I’ve realized this. Researching has brought everything I do to a hyperconscious level. It’s also made me realize that I have a voice. Doing research, studying what my students need to learn and practice, made me realize that I don’t have to always look outside my own classroom for answers. I have learned to trust what I see on my paper, in student conversations, and in my classroom to help me teach my students.

(personal communication, 23 March 2003)

Writers in the workplace also engage in research that expands their professional capacities. Amber Clark, a technical communicator who worked at a writing consulting firm in Ann Arbor, MI, when we were writing the first edition of this book, shared:

My company has a commitment to ongoing professional development through reading and research. Our reading keeps us current with new developments and ideas in the field of technical communication and usability, while our research enables us to contribute to that general body of knowledge. Most of our research stems from experiences with specific clients, and usually involves new methods or design ideas. We find that it’s important to have “back burner” research projects going along with our client projects so that we can stay on the cutting edge of the technical communication field.

(personal communication, 15 April 2003)

Finally, Elizabeth Donoghue-Colvin, a technical communicator who was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Southeast Michigan, reflects on how research influences her professional life:

I notice things about the process of writing that I might not have paid much attention to before. I’ve also begun to organize my thinking about everyday observations in ways I would not have before I became involved in research . . . . The point is that, because I’m involved in research, I’m taking notice of the things that are going on around me at work more than I otherwise would have. I’m thinking about the process of writing.

(personal communication, 24 February 2003)

These individuals, who had been graduate students in a master’s program a few years before making these statements, clearly have taken on the identity of researcher in their professional lives. All of them agree that research is an important part of the work they do. The information they gain from their research—whether it comes from the students they teach or from what they read—is invaluable to them. Further, the research they do in their roles shares many qualities with research we do for academic purposes, as well as for personal reasons. In all of these cases, research helps us become better informed and more knowledgeable, and it helps us make decisions and take action. We can also conclude, from these statements and from our considerations thus far, that research:

• is guided by a thoughtful, well-articulated question that originates in a need, concern, or problem;
• matters to oneself and others;
• is carried out in a planned, intentional, and systematic manner;
• engages and draws on multiple sources and kinds of information (e.g., primary, secondary, firsthand);
• entails a careful recording of findings and information.

Our next prompt invites you to begin considering these qualities as they exist in the professional/academic research of our field of writing.

Prompt 1.4: Exploring Research in the Field of Writing Studies

Locate and look through several academic journals in the field of writing (e.g., CCCC, RTE, Written Communication, The Journal of Business and Technical Communication, The Journal of Basic Writing, The Journal of Writing Program Administration, The Writing Center Journal, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication). Pay attention to both the topics you see and the kinds of research being carried out. Additionally, locate a few articles that interest you and, as you read them, consider how the qualities we identified apply to them. What question(s) prompted the research? Why does or might it matter to others? What and how does it contribute to knowledge in the field? How was it carried out? What kinds of sources were used?

Becoming a Researcher: What Else Is Involved?

As you begin considering and cultivating your own identity as a writing researcher— and learning the methods, tools, and strategies needed to carry out writing research effectively—you may find it helpful to hear and see how others, like you, have navigated this journey. Most of us start out with uncertainties about our abilities as researchers. For example, have you ever questioned if you have anything meaningful or new to contribute to a scholarly conversation? Or perhaps you’ve questioned whether you’ve located all the important sources addressing your topic. You may even wonder if anyone besides you will find your question(s) and/or findings interesting.

To help you see that you are not alone with these concerns, and to demonstrate the many approaches to and strategies for research we address throughout this book, we are including—and integrating throughout—three case studies of new researchers who recently completed their master’s degrees and culminating master’s projects. We have asked them how they gained the knowledge and confidence to now think of themselves as researchers. What did they do to gain the confidence needed to be able to carry out writing research and integrate it into their academic and professional lives? What challenges and successes did they encounter as they did so? As we have thought about our own growth as researchers, and watched these and many other students develop into thoughtful and reflective researchers, we have been able to identify at least four factors that contributed to their success. First, as we’ve addressed throughout this chapter, there is the recognition of the important role research plays in both our personal and our professional lives. Second, there is the realization that research is something we all actually know a good deal about already. Third, there is an interest in learning what is involved in doing research and how research is done. Finally, there is a willingness to try, with the understanding that there may well be challenges and setbacks along the way, but these will contribute to our growth and confidence as researchers. This last point is perhaps the most important one to remember as you embark on your journey of becoming a writing researcher. Challenges and setbacks can cause a lot of discomfort ...