tentative syllabus ENGL406
Research in Writing & Writing Studies: Qualitative Research
|
Need to be in touch with me?
LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 [email protected] www.leetorda.com Fall 2020 Open Hours for students (office hours): M 12:30-2:00 W 10:00-11:00, 3:00-4:00 Th 10:00-11:00 and by appointment. |
NOTE: All classes, student meetings, and open hours (office hours) this Fall 2020 will be held virtually.
Links to Open Hour for Students Zoom sessions: For Monday Open Hours, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @ 10:00, click here. For Wednesday Open Hours @3:00, click here. For Thursday Open Hours, click here. Need to make an during a time that is not an office hour? appointment? Let me know you want to meet by adding yourself to my google.doc appointment calendar here: https://goo.gl/3CqLf and I will send you a zoom link for the time you sign up for. |
9 December 2020
I suspect that there was a certain degree of misunderstanding about what was happening today and, also, some end of semester not being quite ready which is why only poor Amanda zoomed in at 12:20 today. Here is an overview of what we talked about.
This message is repeated on the Update page on our class website as well.
This has been a strange semester and that has certainly spilled into our class. But I think each of you have been good to work with on a one-on-one basis. I wish you every success as you round out this semester and your college career. I know I will see at least two of you next semester—in a much better enrolled class! Should any of you need me in the coming semesters—advising, questions about how you might build a career in writing—just be in touch. Once you’ve been in my class, you are sort of stuck with me.
LT
16 November 2020
Let me begin by extending my apologies for any stress my disorganization this semester has caused any of you. As I hope became clear in your midterm grade letters, as I’ve repeatedly said, any shortcomings on my part will never hurt you or your grade.
SYLLABUS UPDATED
Posted to the syllabus page for our course is the syllabus for the rest of the semester. I appreciate those of you who took seriously my request for feedback on how to manage class and, further, it was very helpful to me to read what you had to say about what readings were useful to you. I’ve tried to be respectful of that as we finish our last few weeks together.
ELIMINATING THE FACE-TO-FACE WEDNESDAY
Most folks found the face-to-face experience with all of to be pretty awful--small class, quiet folks, etc. Instead, as you will see on the syllabus. Mondays will be reserved for 20 minute one-on-ones which, in my opinion, have been useful. They will be entirely focused on helping you complete your final project. Wednesday’s will be days for reading and posting about that reading. There are only two more of these posts left. The readings are examples of qualitative research as public scholarship.
The only exception to the not meeting on Wednesday is tomorrow, just to go over questions you might have, and the last day of classes for a whole class workshop of your final projects.
DROPPING THE ARCHIVAL PROJECT
You may or may not recall from the policies for the course, I had originally intended to have a small archival project as part of our class. Considering that we have barely a month left of classes and the class cancelation (my own on election week and the one last week for Veteran’s Day), it doesn’t make sense to keep that project. To compensate for that in your grade, Your midterm grade now represents 65% of your total final grade, with only the theory presentation and the final project to be completed.
ABOUT THE FINAL PROJECT
You have two options for completing the final project, you can revise and develop the work you started for the midterm or you can develop a new project with a sharp focus on using one methodology that we’ve looked at this semester. Complete details will be ready for tomorrow’s class. And we will go over and discuss the requirement then.
ABOUT THE THEORY PRESENTATION
For tomorrow’s class, I’m asking you to re-read material from a previous week that we did not talk about. It’s the chapters from Bhattacharya on theory. For the final exam period, you will produce a five minute presentation that you will create in powerpoint about one of the theoretical frames that Bhattacharya talks about in that chapter. You will need to do a deeper dive than what she includes there that will require outside source material. Complete details will be ready for tomorrow’s class. And we will go over and discuss the requirements then.
And that’s pretty much that. We have just a few weeks left in our time together, and it’s my goal to make it as individually useful to you as possible by helping you to write the best work you are capable of producing, material you could use as a writing sample or for an application to graduate school. We’ll talk about research opportunities that you might pursue with your work as well.
Thank you for your considerable patience with everything. See you tomorrow.
Monday Update 21 September 2020
Welcome to the Monday update. This is a space where I can try to bring together ideas from the week that was and prepare us for the week that is coming up. As you'll see below, it covers stuff that for the week coming up, including reminders on due dates and the like, and, most importantly, I try to bring together and comment on what we are talking about in class--both in person and online. As you will see below, I quote liberally from what you all have to say in your discussion board posts. I might not quote everyone every week, but I will always try to identify the best of what everyone says.
Stuff related to the work of class this week
In order to bring us all up to speed, you will see on our class discussion board, one new discussion board post. It covers all of the reading in Bhattacharya on the syllabus through our class on Wednesday. Please post a response to that prompt no later than 15 minutes before our Wednesday class. In-class on Wednesday, we will begin to talk, in earnest, about our first major project of the semester and what we can learn from the reading about how to do this first major project well. I have updated and or am in the process of updating the
Reminders
Secondly, thanks to those of you who have sent me your partner profile and your picture (of you). I will provide feedback directly in the google.doc. At this time, there is no reason to revise these pieces. This was a short, introductory writing assignment that was meant to help you understand how class would work. And, also, I’d like to get our class profile page up and running. So take my feedback as something to think about for future writing assignments, but don’t feel compelled to revise. When the profile page goes live, you might notice that I have edited your piece for space or clarity. Don’t be offended.
Stuff I notice in our class blog
Typically, I will post here observations about what folks are saying in our class discussion board. Since we are all at different places in the reading, it can be difficult—and yet, folks had some interesting things to say. If I look at what Sasha, Derek, and Sam had to say about what Bhattacharya calls research, we see, across the board, a shared sense that it is less about things you can objectively count and more about less tangible qualities. As Sam (Isom) said, “Qualitative research, based on my understanding of Bhattacharya's definition, takes human experiences and culture into account to find the most realistic outcome to the question(s) posed.” Sasha and Derek echoed this idea. Two things here: all research, qualitative or otherwise, is conducted in an effort to answer a question. Secondly, we use qualitative research to answer questions that would be unanswerable using only data.
It’s also worth stating that, often, research in Writing Studies, historically, relied almost exclusively on qualitative research—and sometimes not that rigorous—but that has changed considerably, both in that we use quantitative data now more routinely and our requirements for how we conduct qualitative research.
What I found most interesting in the posts from our class what how people wrestled with the intersection of what Bhattacharya is saying we do with qualitative research—the role analysis plays in answering a question using qualitative research—and how that intersects with doing these interviews.
Derek (Krysko) had this to say: “I do find it interesting to look at this project using the objectivist lens, because in a sense the information we gather will be true of the subject regardless of who asks the questions. I think the complications arise when we bring constructivism into the equation, because it feels odd to be assigning meaning to a person's values that we may know nothing about.”
And Sasha (Rockwell) said, similarly, “The reading and the project feel at odds with each other because according to Kakali qualitative research is about analyzing, and to me that doesn't feel like the right word for the kind of research we're doing on each other.”
What Sasha and Derek are getting at, and Sam got at it most directly, is that it feels weird to try to analyze a classmate—particularly, as Derek wrote in his reflection to his partner interview—when you know that your partner is going to read it. This speaks to the ethics of qualitative research and the limitations of what we can make our qualitative data do for us when trying to answer questions. When we do qualitative research, we are almost always working with people up close and personal and while our job as a research is to remain objective, there is a lot that is subjective, for researchers and those who participate in that research, about the experience. Something we must always keep in the forefront of discussions of this work.
Another way to look at this is that the question—my question, because I wrote the assignment, made it difficult to move beyond information gathering. As Sasha said, “There is certain information that we can't find out from this kind of research, and that's what Kakali says is values or beliefs that a person holds. So it entirely depends on the research questions being asked, if that information is needed.”
So a different question—and that speaks to the context and occasion for the research, in this instance, this assignment—would have yielded different questions and different answers and may have empowered you feel like you can and should analyze the information you got from your subject, and, perhaps to ask different questions.
That’s a lot of shifting, moving parts to think about, and that’s, also, the challenge of qualitative research. It’s what makes it powerful and also why, as researchers, we must proceed carefully.
Thanks to Derek, Sam, and Sasha for taking seriously these ideas and responding so thoughtfully. I look forward to having these discussions with all of us as the semester continues.
This week: evolving our ideas about qualitative research further, thinking about it for a first project.
I suspect that there was a certain degree of misunderstanding about what was happening today and, also, some end of semester not being quite ready which is why only poor Amanda zoomed in at 12:20 today. Here is an overview of what we talked about.
- At the end of this email, and also on the Final Project Info page on the class website is guidance about completing your final project. If you have questions about what it says, please email “reply all” so that I can answer the question once and not five separate times.
- Your final project is due on the 16th, which is a week from today. That would have been our exam period. We aren’t meeting for that exam period so you simply need to email me a google.doc with your final project and the required reflection (explained in the final project info). If you want to turn it in on the 17th, that’s fine with me. That’s the last day of exams.
- If it is not already clear to you, I’m cutting the theory pecha kucha assignment. I think we are all done with this semester as it is. I didn’t do enough to get you ready to do it and it seems like folks are in the thick of doing their final project anyway.
- If you would like to meet with me one-on-one sometime between now and when the final project is due, you are welcome to sign up for open hours. You sign up for it the same way you sign up for any appointment, using this google.doc (same as link below).
- If you’ve sent me a copy of your draft, I will respond with some feedback. Folks hoping for feedback in time to use it in a final draft should get me something by Monday AM of next week (14 December 2020)
This message is repeated on the Update page on our class website as well.
This has been a strange semester and that has certainly spilled into our class. But I think each of you have been good to work with on a one-on-one basis. I wish you every success as you round out this semester and your college career. I know I will see at least two of you next semester—in a much better enrolled class! Should any of you need me in the coming semesters—advising, questions about how you might build a career in writing—just be in touch. Once you’ve been in my class, you are sort of stuck with me.
LT
16 November 2020
Let me begin by extending my apologies for any stress my disorganization this semester has caused any of you. As I hope became clear in your midterm grade letters, as I’ve repeatedly said, any shortcomings on my part will never hurt you or your grade.
SYLLABUS UPDATED
Posted to the syllabus page for our course is the syllabus for the rest of the semester. I appreciate those of you who took seriously my request for feedback on how to manage class and, further, it was very helpful to me to read what you had to say about what readings were useful to you. I’ve tried to be respectful of that as we finish our last few weeks together.
ELIMINATING THE FACE-TO-FACE WEDNESDAY
Most folks found the face-to-face experience with all of to be pretty awful--small class, quiet folks, etc. Instead, as you will see on the syllabus. Mondays will be reserved for 20 minute one-on-ones which, in my opinion, have been useful. They will be entirely focused on helping you complete your final project. Wednesday’s will be days for reading and posting about that reading. There are only two more of these posts left. The readings are examples of qualitative research as public scholarship.
The only exception to the not meeting on Wednesday is tomorrow, just to go over questions you might have, and the last day of classes for a whole class workshop of your final projects.
DROPPING THE ARCHIVAL PROJECT
You may or may not recall from the policies for the course, I had originally intended to have a small archival project as part of our class. Considering that we have barely a month left of classes and the class cancelation (my own on election week and the one last week for Veteran’s Day), it doesn’t make sense to keep that project. To compensate for that in your grade, Your midterm grade now represents 65% of your total final grade, with only the theory presentation and the final project to be completed.
ABOUT THE FINAL PROJECT
You have two options for completing the final project, you can revise and develop the work you started for the midterm or you can develop a new project with a sharp focus on using one methodology that we’ve looked at this semester. Complete details will be ready for tomorrow’s class. And we will go over and discuss the requirement then.
ABOUT THE THEORY PRESENTATION
For tomorrow’s class, I’m asking you to re-read material from a previous week that we did not talk about. It’s the chapters from Bhattacharya on theory. For the final exam period, you will produce a five minute presentation that you will create in powerpoint about one of the theoretical frames that Bhattacharya talks about in that chapter. You will need to do a deeper dive than what she includes there that will require outside source material. Complete details will be ready for tomorrow’s class. And we will go over and discuss the requirements then.
And that’s pretty much that. We have just a few weeks left in our time together, and it’s my goal to make it as individually useful to you as possible by helping you to write the best work you are capable of producing, material you could use as a writing sample or for an application to graduate school. We’ll talk about research opportunities that you might pursue with your work as well.
Thank you for your considerable patience with everything. See you tomorrow.
Monday Update 21 September 2020
Welcome to the Monday update. This is a space where I can try to bring together ideas from the week that was and prepare us for the week that is coming up. As you'll see below, it covers stuff that for the week coming up, including reminders on due dates and the like, and, most importantly, I try to bring together and comment on what we are talking about in class--both in person and online. As you will see below, I quote liberally from what you all have to say in your discussion board posts. I might not quote everyone every week, but I will always try to identify the best of what everyone says.
Stuff related to the work of class this week
In order to bring us all up to speed, you will see on our class discussion board, one new discussion board post. It covers all of the reading in Bhattacharya on the syllabus through our class on Wednesday. Please post a response to that prompt no later than 15 minutes before our Wednesday class. In-class on Wednesday, we will begin to talk, in earnest, about our first major project of the semester and what we can learn from the reading about how to do this first major project well. I have updated and or am in the process of updating the
Reminders
Secondly, thanks to those of you who have sent me your partner profile and your picture (of you). I will provide feedback directly in the google.doc. At this time, there is no reason to revise these pieces. This was a short, introductory writing assignment that was meant to help you understand how class would work. And, also, I’d like to get our class profile page up and running. So take my feedback as something to think about for future writing assignments, but don’t feel compelled to revise. When the profile page goes live, you might notice that I have edited your piece for space or clarity. Don’t be offended.
Stuff I notice in our class blog
Typically, I will post here observations about what folks are saying in our class discussion board. Since we are all at different places in the reading, it can be difficult—and yet, folks had some interesting things to say. If I look at what Sasha, Derek, and Sam had to say about what Bhattacharya calls research, we see, across the board, a shared sense that it is less about things you can objectively count and more about less tangible qualities. As Sam (Isom) said, “Qualitative research, based on my understanding of Bhattacharya's definition, takes human experiences and culture into account to find the most realistic outcome to the question(s) posed.” Sasha and Derek echoed this idea. Two things here: all research, qualitative or otherwise, is conducted in an effort to answer a question. Secondly, we use qualitative research to answer questions that would be unanswerable using only data.
It’s also worth stating that, often, research in Writing Studies, historically, relied almost exclusively on qualitative research—and sometimes not that rigorous—but that has changed considerably, both in that we use quantitative data now more routinely and our requirements for how we conduct qualitative research.
What I found most interesting in the posts from our class what how people wrestled with the intersection of what Bhattacharya is saying we do with qualitative research—the role analysis plays in answering a question using qualitative research—and how that intersects with doing these interviews.
Derek (Krysko) had this to say: “I do find it interesting to look at this project using the objectivist lens, because in a sense the information we gather will be true of the subject regardless of who asks the questions. I think the complications arise when we bring constructivism into the equation, because it feels odd to be assigning meaning to a person's values that we may know nothing about.”
And Sasha (Rockwell) said, similarly, “The reading and the project feel at odds with each other because according to Kakali qualitative research is about analyzing, and to me that doesn't feel like the right word for the kind of research we're doing on each other.”
What Sasha and Derek are getting at, and Sam got at it most directly, is that it feels weird to try to analyze a classmate—particularly, as Derek wrote in his reflection to his partner interview—when you know that your partner is going to read it. This speaks to the ethics of qualitative research and the limitations of what we can make our qualitative data do for us when trying to answer questions. When we do qualitative research, we are almost always working with people up close and personal and while our job as a research is to remain objective, there is a lot that is subjective, for researchers and those who participate in that research, about the experience. Something we must always keep in the forefront of discussions of this work.
Another way to look at this is that the question—my question, because I wrote the assignment, made it difficult to move beyond information gathering. As Sasha said, “There is certain information that we can't find out from this kind of research, and that's what Kakali says is values or beliefs that a person holds. So it entirely depends on the research questions being asked, if that information is needed.”
So a different question—and that speaks to the context and occasion for the research, in this instance, this assignment—would have yielded different questions and different answers and may have empowered you feel like you can and should analyze the information you got from your subject, and, perhaps to ask different questions.
That’s a lot of shifting, moving parts to think about, and that’s, also, the challenge of qualitative research. It’s what makes it powerful and also why, as researchers, we must proceed carefully.
Thanks to Derek, Sam, and Sasha for taking seriously these ideas and responding so thoughtfully. I look forward to having these discussions with all of us as the semester continues.
This week: evolving our ideas about qualitative research further, thinking about it for a first project.