Research Methodologies in Composition and Rhetoric.
A hallmark of Composition Studies is the intersection between theory and practice: for compositionists, theory and practice have an almost cyclic relationship, with theory both informing and evolving from observations of particular practices. Whether such practices occur in the classroom or in an identified community, empirical research in the form of ethnography, mixed-methods approaches, activist research, and practitioner research, to name just a few (and often overlapping) research methodologies, is common in the field. Just as this work is interdisciplinary in that it is informed by theories and practices applied in fields including Sociology, Anthropology, Education, Second Language Studies, and Literacy Studies, and as the increasing attention to the need for Institutional Review Board approval for research throughout academia points to, understanding research methodologies and methods used in empirical research—the focus of this course—is applicable across concentrations and disciplines.
We will begin the course by exploring the foundations and evolution of ethnographic research by looking at key texts grounded in various disciplines, particularly Anthropology and Sociology, so as to become familiar with research methodologies and their underlying epistemological assumptions. We will read and critique scholarship on methodologies advocated in Composition and Rhetoric and examine the ways theoretical schools, such as feminist studies and Indigenous studies, inform current research trends, such as activist research and practitioner research, to develop an understanding of how movements in the field of Composition and Rhetoric have influenced research approaches and practices. Throughout these examinations, we will interrogate the methods, or practices, employed in fieldwork and analysis meant to further the goals of particular methodologies so as to develop an awareness for potential disjunctures between the claims enabled by a methodology and the actual degree to which those claims are realized.
Since empirical research is grounded in observation and experience, one could easily argue that place is an inherent variable in such research. Indeed, in Hawaiʻi, like other locations throughout the Pacific, the history of empirical research is fraught with problems of appropriation, exploitation, and, sometimes, outright abuse. An overarching theme of the course will thus be focused on what it means to conduct ethical and responsible research, particularly in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. We will thus read empirical studies grounded in Composition and Rhetoric as well as projects located in Hawai’i so as to interrogate ethical issues related to the design, implementation, and representation of research. To return to the theory-practice connection, students will apply the theoretical knowledge acquired through reading and discussions in the design of a course project, through which they will gain a working knowledge of the key elements of conducting empirical research (i.e., creating a research design, IRB application approval, articulating research questions that can be operationalized), how to design a project in ways that are considered ethical and responsible, and how to use data analysis software such as NVIVO as a research tool.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply Advanced Research Methods
Demonstrate an understanding of the inter-disciplinary foundations of Research Methodologies in Composition and Rhetoric
Demonstrate an understanding of the role the socio-historical politics of “place,” specifically Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, plays in research design
Demonstrate an ability to critically situate research, both one’s own and other’s, within scholarly conversations
Assignments:
Weekly Reading Responses (10%)
In-class presentation on a particular week’s readings (10%)
Complete IRB Certification and Application (10%)
Short paper synthesizing literature for the purpose of articulating a research design (20%)
A final project that includes empirical research (50%)
Required Text:
Lincoln,Yvonna S. and Norman K. Denzin. Turning Points in Qualitative Research: Tying Knots in a Handkerchief (Crossroads in Qualitative Inquiry). Lanham: AltaMira Press, 2003.
Other texts will include a selection of the following:
(all assigned articles and chapters from the books listed below will be available in a course packet or online):
Anderson, Paul V. “Simple Gifts: Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Person-Based Composition Research.”
Behar, Ruth, and Deborah A. Gordon. Women Writing Culture
Brettell, Caroline. When They Read What We Write
Brulland, Holly (dissertation)
Clifford, James, and George E. Marcus Writing Culture
Cochran-Smith, Marilyn, and Susan Lytle. Practitioner Research in the Next Generation
Creswell, John and Vickie Plano Clark, Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research
Cushman, Ellen. “The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Activist Research.” Cushman, Ellen. The Struggles and the Tools
Denzin, Norman, Yvonne Lincoln, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Handbook of Critical and Indigenous Methodologies
Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures
Glaser, Barney. The Discovery of Grounded Theory
Harding, Sandra. “Introduction: Is There a Feminist Method?”
Henry, Jim. Writing Workplace Culture
Kahn, Seth. “Ethnographic Writing as Grassroots Democratic Action.”
Kawae’ae’a, Keiki. (Dissertation)
Kahumoku III, Walter. “A Tragic Indigenous Mo’olelo: The Decline of Kanaka Maoli Linguistic Identity
Kirsch, Gesa. Ethical Dilemmas in Feminist Research
Kirsch, Gesa and Patricia A. Sullivan Methods and Methodology in Composition Research
Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Tristes Tropiques
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Argonauts Of The Western Pacific
Mead, Margaret. Coming Of Age In Samoa
Miles, Matthew, Michael Huberman and Johnny Saldaña. Qualitative Data Analysis
Mortensen, Peter and Gesa E. Kirsch. Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy
Nesmith, Keau. “Tutu’s Hawaiian and the Emergence of a Neo-Hawaiian Language.”
Rosaldo, Renato. Culture and Truth
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies
Stocking, George. A Franz Boas Reader