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English 5389:  Field Methods in Technical Communication  (Spring 2009)

Please go to the class blog at fieldmethods.wordpress.com

Technical communicators have established their own research methods for use in software design, in the production of training materials, in the creation, use, and testing of educational activities, and so forth. This course will serve as a critical overview to these methods. In this course, we will examine these methods in terms of: theoretical bases; data collection and analysis; and design work. For each method, students will design and critique research questions/problem statements and research instruments. Using one of these methods, each student will conduct a small-scale study.  Prior to, during, and after the conduct of research, students will maintain a reflective blog. Students will "write up" their research, situating it in the field, or students will have the option of writing a paper on some aspect of the research methods we've studied.  Finally, each student will lead a class discussion, serving as the "information manager" for that class.

At the end of this course, students should have a theoretical understanding of the assumptions behind each method and, therefore, a grounding in how to choose the proper method for a given set of concerns and environment. Students should be able to articulate reasons for selecting a field method and should be able to conduct and direct studies using any of the methods covered.

Learning Objectives for 5389

Objectives	Methods of Assessment
Students will develop a working knowledge of the research methodologies used in technical communication and rhetoric.	Students will demonstrate a working knowledge through class critiques of existing studies, through their webboard postings, and on their final deliverable.
Students will be able to choose an appropriate research question and the methodology to begin to answer it.	Students’ microstudy and final deliverable will show their ability to choose research questions and methodologies to begin to answer them.
Students will understand what field research is and how it differs from other research methods used in other disciplines.	Students will complete readings about field methods in TC, including an award winning dissertation, and their reading notes and microstudy will reinforce their understanding of field research.
Students will know how to critically assess studies involving field research for validity, quality, and soundness of methods/results	Students will demonstrate an ability to critique through class critiques of existing studies, through their webboard postings, and on their final deliverable.
Students will understand theoretical concepts that ground field research	Students will demonstrate their theoretical understanding via their class discussion and their final deliverable.

Contact Information
I can be reached through rebecca.rickly@ttu.edu,  rebecca.rickly@gmail.com (for files over 2 megs), kairoshorses (YahooIM), or 806.742.2500 x287. Online office hours are (online) T 1-4, (onsite and online) W 1:30-3:30 pm or by appointment.

Requirements
You are expected to participate as a professional in the intellectual community of the seminar. To do so, you'll need to come to class, keep up with the readings, turn in work on time, and demonstrate your familiarity with the readings via your questions, comments, and writing. The ultimate goal for this course is the evolution of your own critical awareness and your own emerging skills as a researcher, a process that depends entirely on your active commitment to the class.

Assignment	Percentage of Final Grade
Email Project Proposal	5
IRB HSF Proposal	10
Proposal for Research Project/Microstudy	15
Research Reflections Journal/blog	15
Information Manager	15
Final Deliverable	25
Class Participation	15

Readings
In addition to readings that will be provided when needed, we will work extensively out of these two texts:

Kuniavsky, Mike.  Observing the User Experience:  A Practitioner's Guide to User Research.  Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2003.

 

Spinuzzi, Clay.  Tracing Genres Through Organizations:  A Sociocultural Approach to Information Design. MIT Press, 2003.

Methods sections from Selected Dissertations:

Sun, Huatong.  Expanding the Scope of Localization:  A Cultural Usability Perspective on Mobile Text Messaging Use in American and Chinese Contexts.  Dissertation, RPI, 2004.

Ross, Derek. 

Also, the following are books that I've found very helpful in this subject: 

• Beyer, Hugh and Karen Holtzblatt.  Contextual Design:  Defining Customer-Centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1998.

• Greenbaum, Joan, and Morten Kyng.  Design at Work:  Cooperative Design of Computer Systems.  Lawrence Earlbaum Associates, 1991.

• Creswell, John W.  Research Design:  Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Second Edition.  Sage Publications,  2003.

• Law, John.  After Method:  Mess in Social Science Research

• Gurak, Laura, and Mary Lay, eds.  Research in Technical Communication

• Miles, Matthew B., & Huberman, A. Michael. Qualitative Data Analysis: A Sourcebook of New Methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1994.

• Fetterman, David.  Ethnography Step-by-Step.  Sage Publications, 1998.

• Emerson, Robert, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw.  Writing Ethnographic Field Notes.  U of Chicago Press, 1995.

NOTE:  Schedule below is from 2007; it will be changed fairly drastically, so stay tuned!

Schedule If reading selections are not available in your texts, they're in PDF through the schedule. Readings are due the day they are listed Day   topic (1)1/7 A Practitioner's Guide to Doing Research in TC Patricia Goubril-Gambrell. Overview of Methods and Methodologies Start thinking about a situation you'd like to examine, or a question you'd like to answer. Email me your ideas for your project before the next class. UCD Research. Today we will examine the syllabus, the books, and answer any questions you may have. The course centers on "User-Centered Design" Research methods such as participatory design, contextual inquiry, and problem-based "ethnographies". Usability is a field method, too, but we won't cover it since it has its own course. Go over syllabus What is UCD Research?  Web search results. Learn about research interests of class. Discuss logins to webboard. Assign HSF (2)1/8   Spinuzzi, Comparing Three Field Methods Read example IRB from Clay Spinuzzi Kendall Kelly Information Manager Field Methods vs. "Traditional" Methods. Again, please read the bulleted readings to the right before class. If you have any trouble reading any PDFs, please let me know.   IRB Q & A. Generic or specific IRB, student's choice. Homepage for the Office of Research Services. Click on "Human Subjects" on the navigation bar on the left, and then "TTU Human Subjects." All the forms on that page are necessary to accompany the discussion. Federal Guidelines guiding the IRB process. Read and discuss "What constitutes research?" and research priorities from the Guidelines for STC Research Grants. Begin basic quantitative concepts. Research Proposal assigned. (3)1/24 Read Chapters 1-3 in Spinuzzi Be prepared to discuss Research Proposal. Respond to at least TWO other HSF proposals. Introduction to Design. How is doing research in TC similar to what Locke Carter would call "frontier epistemology"? What are the benefits of this system? What are the limitations? Discuss reading. Draft of IRB HSF Proposal due on Webboard   (4)1/31   Read Chapters 4-5 in Spinuzzi Lennie Irvin Information Manager   Information Design and Genre. By the end of the day email me the ideas you have for your first microstudy. Discuss reading   (5)2/7 Read Chapter 6 in Spinuzzi Read Spinuzzi on Open Systems Information Design and Genre.   Discuss Reading IRB HSF Proposal Due     (6)2/14   Read Lost in Translation  Class Wiki  Class Site    SIGDOC site:     http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm or  http://www.sigdoc.org/  White Paper on Pedagogy  White Paper on Google Docs Information Design, Genre, and Field Methods. Finish discussing Spinuzzi; relate his work to our larger understanding of field methods in TC Guest speaker:  Clay Spinuzzi         (7)2/21 Doheny-Farina & Odell, "Ethnographic research on writing" Blomberg et al., "Ethnographic field methods and their relation to design" Winsor, "Ordering work" Anne Papworth Information Manager   Ethnography and UCD/Field Methods. Discuss readings  Research Proposal due, posted on Webboard. Assign Annotated Bibliography       (8)2/28   Button & Dourish, "Technomethodology: Paradoxes and possibilities" Zuboff, "Abstraction of Industrial Work" Baake Naturalistic Inquiry Baake WGRA Dissertation Writers' Negotiations Clare Keating Information Manager   Ethnography and UCD/Field Methods. See example of field notes Discuss Research proposals. Discuss Readings Possible Guest:  Dr. Ken Baake         (9)3/7 Bravo, "The hazards of leaving out the users" Bodker, Groenbaek, & Kyng, "Cooperative design: Techniques and experiences from the Scandinavian scene" Article on Gaming Joel Kline Information Manager   Participatory Design. Discuss articles Look at new description of research reflections.  We won't have time for everyone to select a day--so I will ask for volunteers each class.  Make sure you post or link TWO of these to webboard before the end of the semester.       3/14   Enjoy yourself--and I'll see some of you at CCCC next week!   NO CLASS--SPRING BREAK       (10)3/21 Ehn, "Scandinavian design: On participation and skill" Gronbaek et al., "Achieving cooperative system design" Bokder & Gronbaek, "Cooperative prototyping: Users and designers in mutual activity" Janie Santoy Information Manager   Participatory Design. CCCC and ATTW week:  please, read articles, and Janie will summarize as information manager.  There will be a VOLUNTARY meeting at the regular place/time for those able to come to discuss research projects.       (11)3/28   Using Contextual Inquiry to Understand Audience Messy Research Chapter 3 in Contextual Design Becky Johnston Information Manager   Contextual Inquiry. Discuss readings           (12)4/4 Coble, Maffitt, Orland, and Kahn, "Using Contextual Inquiry to Discover Physician's True Needs." CI: Quantification and Use in Videotaped Analysis Structure and Agency in Medical Case Presentations Diane Allen Information Management   Contextual Inquiry. Discuss readings Peruse the following student product: Contextual Inquiry and Task Analysis Annotated Bibliography Due         (13)4/11   Read Chapters 1-4 in Sun's Dissertation Glenn Dayley Information Manager   UCD and Dissertation Research. Discuss readings         (14)4/18 Read Chapters 3-8 in Sun's Dissertation. UCD and Dissertation Research. Discuss Readings Come up with questions for Hannah Sun   (15)4/25 UCD and Dissertation research. Guest Speaker:  Hannah Sun Academic Honesty and Appropriate Behavior We are committed to academic integrity in all its practices. The faculty value intellectual integrity and a high standard of academic conduct. Activities that violate academic integrity undermine the quality and diminish the value of educational achievement. Cheating on papers tests or other academic works is a violation of College rules. No student shall engage in behavior that, in the judgment of the instructor of the class, may be construed as cheating. This may include, but is not limited to, plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty such as the acquisition without permission of tests or other academic materials and/or distribution of these materials and other academic work. This includes students who aid and abet as well as those who attempt such behavior. Further, you are expected to follow "netiquette." See, also, the WPA's statement about plagiarism. Assignment Expectations Grade Range A: 92.5-100% A-: 89.5-92.4 B+: 86.5-89.4 B: 83.5-86.4 B-: 79.5-82.4 C+: 76.5-79.4 C: 73.5-76.4 C-: 69.5-72.4 D+: 66.5-69.4 D: 63.5-66.4 D-: 59.5-62.4 F: 59.4-0.0 The following is a general description of expectations for assignments: A. Your project is of impeccable (or almost impeccable) quality in both content and format design, with no major weaknesses in any area. It provides adequate information that users need and effectively fulfills the intended purposes. Presentation is of professional quality. There are few if any mechanical errors.   B. Your project is of high quality in most of the major areas. It fulfills the user's needs and your intended purposes quite effectively. Presentation is quite professional. There are only a few mechanical errors.   C. Your project is of reasonable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user's needs and your intended purposes to a large extent, although major deficiencies are observable. Presentation is of semi-professional quality. There are some mechanical errors, but not to the extent of seriously affecting readers' comprehension.   D. Your project is of acceptable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user's needs and your intended purposes to some extent, but major deficiencies exist in several areas. Presentation quality is acceptable but low. There are a significant number of mechanical errors.   F. Your project is unacceptable in quality. It does not fulfill the user's needs or your intended purposes. Major deficiencies are observed in most areas. Presentation quality is poor, and there are too many mechanical errors. Advice Be reflective in peer response and the revising process (be wholehearted, sincere, and responsible), and think in terms of process as opposed to product. That is, instead of dictating an authoritative "answer" or "solution" to a peer's particular point (or lack thereof), suggest a useful question that will allow for an opportunity to think beyond the immediate example or problem or issue. Tutors are available in the writing center, and I am often available to work with you on anything course-related. Some Policy Clarifications Special needs. We seek to provide effective services and accommodations for qualified individuals with documented disabilities. If you need an accommodation because of a documented disability, you are required to register with Disability Support Services at the beginning of the semester. If you will require assistance during an emergency evacuation, notify your instructor immediately. Late work. Late work may be penalized one letter grade per day. Know that assignments are subject to change. Attendance. If you are absent, do not check your email regularly, or do not participate online you obviously cannot meet certain opportunities to learn. Also, peers' learning is disrupted. If it is clear that you are not committed to participating to this key element of the course, your grade may be reduced, or you may be asked to drop the course. Instructors may administratively withdraw a student from class enrollment for attendance and disciplinary issues with the approval of academic affairs. For attendance issues, the enrollment withdrawal may be initiated within the 60 to 75% time-period of the course. The registrar's office will notify the student if this action occurs. Regarding the observance of a religious holy day: a student will be excused from attending classes or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day and the time necessary to travel for this observance. The student will not be penalized for the absence and will be permitted to take an exam or complete an assignment missed during the excused absence. No prior notification is required.