2.23 Auto/biography & creative writing as research methods

NOTE:  The presentation list, and the schedule for your research conferences are published as separate posts (click in Blog archive).

Tonight's very rushed presentations were both about covering research methods in auto/biography and creative writing - and about modeling practices for doing your research methods presentations.  One thing I didn't incorporate into my presentation were opportunities for the class to write (to gather their thoughts, pose group solutions to questions, analyze problems presented by the material).  It would be a welcome component of your presentation to invite students to collaborate among themselves, review the essay, write possible answers to the questions you will pose.  These moves often stimulate more extensive, more deeply thought discussions.

Evans and autobiography
Evans' article begins with discussions of the contributions & pitfalls of auto/biographical research. Points from the discussion  of the reading are posted to the right (# 2 under Notes/ Discussions). 


Jessica Stern's Denial.  I have posted the "outline" I used for my presentation to the right.  Your contributions to the discussion were what really made this interesting.  Thanks for the good talk!

What Cook says about creative writing as a process.  The essay is written in 4 sections - if you can state the main point of each section (with a quote to support it) you will have some ideas fo the controversies surrounding creative writing as a research process, and what current theorists state as what it "does".


In opening remarks Cooks observes why creative writing/writing process is not usually considered a research method: 


1.  often considered spontaneous or unconscious (as opposed to rule driven and conscious)
2. not economic (the long way is valued rather than avoided).

Cook maintains that neither of these "reasons" stands up as a mandate for excluding creative writing from research methods.  Writing process can be "watched" and much can be learned through those observations, and sometimes the "longway" is better than systematic, algorithmic approaches - which may curtail or overlook exploration + discovery.

The body of the essay considers why writing/re-writing should be studied as research process.  And as we observed in class, no matter what kind of research you do - you will be writing.  As stated in this essay - your research will be enriched watching how the writing process can help you discover the form for your writing, the focus for your communication - and new knowledge that magically arises from richness & complexity  of language itself.


In class - we briefly used the methods narrated in "Composing 'Teacher Training' " both to brainstorm a (pretend - maybe possible?) creative writing project. 

Writing process as discovery: Following Pope's process, we - responded to a journal prompt, did some clustering and freewriting, talked about what how we might focus the piece and suggested doing some "focused" freewriting.    Although we didn't complete Pope's whole process - the idea was to think about how after writing some "episodes" or "scenes" that helped to suggest what her focus might be, Pope engaged in what is more commonly recognized as research by visiting (and observing in detail) the setting for her piece, interviewing people who have a different perspective on the same material or have important information; and connecting her work to theories/facts/other research associated with her piece. 

Throughout the "real" research part of her process, Pope continued to write - to journal (reflect on, plan, assess  and gather ideas); cluster (open up ideas & identifty categories associated with a central concept); freewrite (create associative, unedited sequences of writing related to an idea or focus) and talk to peers and advisors and "experts"  (to gather more ideas, assess or validate her current plans and writing, envision new ideas for focus, organization & development).  Her writing process was recursive - in that it looped through as series of practices for generating, organizing, articulating, and evaluating (deciding whether she liked them) ideas.  After she had a draft - she continued to loop back through her writing process as she revised - and perhaps most importantly - she "watched herself think."  In this way - the essay presents a kind of model for how to use creative writing as a research process.


For next class: 

Read: Bloome et al, Chapter 1 & 2

Blog 5 :  your research question revised

I suggest that you post Blog 5 after receiving feedback to your earlier posts (hopefully over the weekend) and after your conference.  The idea is that by the end of next week you will be able to get started on this project.

So we should be pretty much back on the calendar from here forward.  See you next week.

2.23 Schedule of conferences for research projects

If you are not scheduled for a conference for your research project - send me an email so we can set one up.  All meetings take place in my office: CAS 324.


Monday
12:00  Sarah Brittain
1:00 Svitlana  Chaykivska

Tuesday
12:00 Michael John Callahan
12:20  Jill Arnold
12:40  Wyndesha Cooper

Wednesday
12:40  Michael Vandenberg
4:30  Andre Jones

Thursday
12:00 Alex Kuck
3:30  Kristyna Lombardo
3:50  Courtney Benn
4:10 Erin Hagan

2.23 Research methods presentations - sign up and discussion

The guidesheet for doing your presentation is posted to the right.  I "modeled" the presentation style in class with respect to Jessica Stern's Denial, and I gave a very short example of what is expected in terms of the "interactive" element.  The for the activity is that you engage the class in using the research method, or in critically reflecting on how it works.  If you are unsure about how to design an activity - my office is CAS 324 and you can schedule a conference.


Discourse Analysis: Bloome et al, sample discourse anlaysis essays in Chapter 3. (Help me out if I got your chapters wrong)

1.  An interactional socialinguistic perspective on an instructional conversation: Talking  opportunities for literacy learning into being, Mandy Smith, p. 79.   ALEX 
2.  A sociaocognitive perspective on the discourse of classroom literacy lesson, Susan R. Goldman, p. 93. ERIN

3.  The moral order of questions and answers: 'What kind of person is Dee?'  Douglas Macbeth, p. 105.  MICHAEL

4.  'What kind of person is Dee?' : Interrogating Black female identity in Alice Walker's 'Everyday Use' by Stephanie Power Carter, p. 119.  ANDRE

Visual Analsyis:  The Arrival, by Shaun Tan WYNDESHA,  SVITLANA

Farrell, M., Arizpe, E. , and McAdam, J. (2010) Journeys across visual borders: Annotated spreads of 'The Arrival' by Shaun Tan as a method of understanding pupils' creation of meaning through visual images. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33 (3). pp. 198-210.

Ethnographic Methods:  KRISTYNA, COURTNEY

Livingstone, Sonia. “Internet Literacy: Young People’s Negotiation of New Online Opportunities." Digital Youth, Innovation, and the Unexpected. Edited by Tara McPherson. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning.  Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2008. 101–122

Interviews   MICHAEL , LAUREN

Visual Literacy for All:  A Fourth-Grade Study of Alice in Wonderland  http://www.readingonline.org/articles/voices/edinger/

Oral history:  SARAH, JILL

I didn't do anything important," The Oral History Review 36.1 2009, available through Kean University data bases

Qualitative methods: "Is Oral History Good for You?" The Oral History Review  37.2
DEBORAH , JENNIFER

If you are not signed up for a method = send me an email. 


Conferences for research projects

2.15 No Class

I am sick - so there will be no class tonight.  I am sorry to cancel class - especially because we meet only once a week.

For next class (February 23):

Read:  Pope, "Teacher Training" + "Composing 'Teacher Training'"; Cook in Griffin

Blog 4: What is Stern's methodology?  what skills does she use?  How do the limitations of autobiography identified by Evans apply to Stern's essay? 

The Pope essay "Teacher Training" is posted on the blog, and I will scan in the "Composing Teacher Training" essay and email it to your Kean email - hopefully  by the end of the weekend. 

We will move through these two sections quickly.  Also - look through the remaining methods - and decide which method you would like to sign up to present on (see the Research Methods Presentation list = #2 under Assignments)..

2.9 Using model essays + research with human subjects

We spent the first half of class looking at Fetterley and Moreno as "model" essays.  We began by looking at each essay in terms of:

• focus
• methods
• methodology
• data (what counted as evidence)
• findings

We described Moreno, an ethnographic study, as follows.
Focus: bicultural students, pedagogy, literacy (and how it connects to identity)
Methods: textual analysis (of Raymundo's writing), ethnographic observation
Data: Raymundo's writing, theoretical writings by other researchers, observations
Methodology: postcolonial => critical pedagogy

We then looked at the essay in terms of the way it was built.  You worked in groups to identify Moreno's research question, the form (sections = by heading and what was the focus for each section), and the "moves" she made in each section.

Our analysis of Moreno was as follows.
Research question:  how can college literacy instruction help multicultural students resist colonialization- or as she puts it on 223 (how can we change universities from being " a tool for control and colonialization, considering here that literacy in institutional settings is also used to socialize students to the uses of language and discourses in eductational institutions."
Sections= introduction, background, presentation of data, conclusions.  I pointed out that research essays often have 6 sections=> Introduction, context, methods, data, discussion , conclusion.

In general, research essays are organized into similar sections - and make the :
Introduction: Connect to the research literature, discuss/introduce relevant theory, identify a problem, state what current research (this essay ) will do/add=>articulates the research question
Context: describe where, when, under what circumstances data are collected; identify/describe group, participants, or materials studied; explain selection of subjects; this section can also introduce more theoretical background
Methods: describe what was collected , how much was collected (sometimes as part of a larger study) & why the methods were used
Data:  these sections usually use data to make a series of short focused points: they introduce and idea, present a "set" of data (in Moreno's case these were excerpts from writing, or quotes from Raymundo and his classmates); and then discuss how/what the data show with respect to the idea.
Discussion: this section generally makes connections among the points made in the data section = and expands upon connections between theory and data in a more extended way
Conclusion: . Reiterates points from discussion in light of theory or general cultural circumstances or theory (returns to or "answers" the research question); calls for particular kinds of actions related to the essay's findings, identifies questions raised by the study and calls for more research

Developing research questions
One objective for class this evening was to explore the difference between a focus and a research question.  You wrote about possible focuses for your research on your last blog - and you have some great ideas.  As we saw in Morena - the research question shapes the whole project.  Your research question identifies your subjects, implies your methods, and frames and organizes the focus of what you will do.  For example, when we write down the focus for Moreno's study- we knew it was about bicultural students, literacy, teaching and colonialization.  The research question placed those factors in relationship to one another - and expressed a purpose in terms of what to look for.


Working with human subjects
The class concluded with an introduction to working with human subjects.  The Consent & Debriefing forms - what you will use with your subjects- are posted to the right, in the Course Documents section.  We will talk more about this as you get closer to conducting your research.  You cannot begin any work with the participants in your study until:

I receive written confirmation from Kean's IRB
You have completed the NIH training and sent me your certificate
We have agreed upon the plan for your study
You have received written consent from your participants

 The directions for completing your NIH training are posted at Assignments. You need to send me the link for your completed training by February 20 (if you have trouble- we have one more class to talk about it).

For next week:
Work on IRB training

Read: Evans in Griffin;  Sample autobiography as research essay: introduction and chapter excerpt for Jessica Stern's Denial  http://jessicastern.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/denial_excerpt.pdf

Blog 3 : do somemore  writing to map out your research question => pose several (related) questions that you might ask.  You may not be able to state what you want to study in just ONE question, and you may need to do some explaining/exploring to set up your question(s).  This is a place to put your ideas in writing - so your classmates and I can give you feedback.  

Have a good weekend - and see you next week.

2.2 Introduction to methods used in Writing Studies

This evening's class was spend laying the groundwork for the course.  We talked through the major assignments in more detail, discussed your research interests, looked at the readings associated with the particular methods we will be studying, and closed with a discussion of why it is important to have training in research methods and methodologies.

Research essay 
The research essay is your chance to do some guided work "trying out" the methods from the course.  The idea is for you to choose a topic you want to study; your topic can be related to your project for Senior Writing Seminar, to your future vocation as a teacher or writer, or it can simply be something you are interested in studying - so long as their is a focus on language, literacy, literacy learning and teaching - or "discourse" (you will have a better feel for what counts as discourse after we work on discourse analysis).  I introduced the assignment and talked with you about possible topics so that you would have time to work into your projects - which are due at the end of the term.

I realized as we were talking that if you were going to do research you would need approval from Kean University's Institutional Review Board for your projects.  I submitted to forms for requesting permsission - and will give you an update on where we are with that next week. My impression is that you will be able to conduct research projects that involve human subjects, but that there will be some limitations on the kinds of projects you can conduct.

Presentations on readings & sign up
You also looked at the list of presentations for the methods we will study, and I talked through the sample readings and the assignment sheet.  If you have further questions - bring them to next class - and we will talk them through.  Meanwhile - read through the sample methods essays and think about which two methods are a match for your research - and identify 2 or 3 methods you might like to present on.  You will "sign up" during class next week.

Research Interests
We spent most of our class time talking about your research interests, brainstorming ideas, and thinking about what methods (and methodologies) connect to your interests.  You were great at generating ideas with classmates, and your contributions are what is going to make this class really work.  You are not "committed" to the ideas you put out there - we are still in the brainstorming stages - and no one "owns" any particular area of research.  This is a chance to try out and explore your interests and ideas.

Discussion of Griffin
We did not spend much time on skills, methods, and methodologies (I can get back to that on your blogs) - but we did talk through reasons for (and against) "institutionalizing" training for writing studies researchers, and the underlying assumptions of reactive and proactive approaches to research training.  Points in favor of providing researchers with methods training include the facts that it
1) makes researchers more conscious of the ways assumptions and methods shape what they can and can't discover in their research;
2) provides them with a broad range of approaches to choose from.

Points against providing up-front training are that researchers can pick up what they need in the field, and that it can categorize and make formulaic understandings of research - so that decisions about how to study problems may in fact become less creative and contextual.  My hope is that Griffin's approach (and the approach we take into this class) will be flexible enough that this second drawback does not become a problem for us.

Good discussion - and I am very excited to watch your research ideas as they develop through this course.

For next week:
Read: Moreno (link under Course Readings at the right), and Fetterley, available in the Kean ebook resources under The Resisting Reader,  If you try to access this link from home - you will need your library barcode.  "A Rose for 'A Rose for Emily'" begins on page 34.  

Blog 2:  Write in some detail about your ideas for a research project.  Think about your focus (what you will study); what questions you will ask, who you might talk to/observe/work with to find answers; what kinds of places or things you will need to study, and so on.  The more brainstorming you do here, the more I will have as a basis to give you feedback.

In class we will use discussion of Fetterley and Moreno as a way to characterize the genre expectations and the form of research essays.  We will also talk about methodologies and methods in these two studies.  

And - you will sign up for your presentation essays, and we will continue talking about your research ideas.