Choosing and Implementing a Research Design Lauren Garcia-DuPlain The University of Akron English Composition 112

Research Design  Choose a research method that will appropriately and validly answer your Research Question.  Here are a few suggestions:  Observations  Interviews  Surveys  Textual Analysis

Observations  Choose a demographic.  Include enough observations to find patterns among what you see.  Categorize the patterns and count the instances of each to examine frequency.  Analyze your results.

Interviews  Finding interviewees and/or experts:  Check your sources.  Ask friends and instructors.  Check the faculty directory.  Check the Encyclopedia of Associations.  Check the Web.

What does it mean to interview a community member?  Part of interviewing a community member involves the systematic collection of a living person’s testimony about their own experiences.  Often the interview will include details and stories that have not been written down before.

Interviewing: A Circular Process  A “circular process” means that you may need to ask follow-up questions or do more background research once the interview is over.  Interviewing (like other research) isn’t always a step-by-step, easy process. form central question conduct background research conduct interview process interview organize and present results

Choosing an Interviewee  Choose someone from a community that’s of interest to you.  Conduct preliminary research on your interviewee.  Aim high—you have an “in” being a college student, so try asking someone you don’t know or thought you may never have the chance to meet.

Formulating Questions  Compile a list of topics or questions.  Do NOT ask questions that can be answered through quick research.  Ask easy questions first.  Ask personal or emotionally demanding questions after developing a rapport.  End with lighter questions.  Be flexible—watch for and pick up on promising topics introduced by the interviewee.

Choosing a Format  face-to-face – Speaking with someone is preferable and the best option, because you can hear the tone and watch for nonverbal cues.  – is convenient, because you have a record of the discussion, but you miss out on tone and nonverbal cues. If you choose this method, send an introductory asking for their participation and consent before sending questions  phone – This is the least preferable form, because archiving and note-taking are difficult while listening (There are also laws about recording telephone conversations.).

Contacting Participants  , phone, letter, or face-to-face:  Remain professional and formal.  Address your interviewee with a title (Mr., Mrs., Dr., etc.)  Use a formal tone.  If writing, end with a closing remark and sign your name.  It’s a good idea to ask if a follow-up interview is possible.

The Interview  Make sure the interviewee understands the purpose of the interview.  Listen actively and intently.  Start with less probing questions.  Limit interviews to one to two hours.  Write a thank-you note or send an .

Remember to Consider: Who do you want to interview? Why do you want to interview this specific person? How might this interview/person/story/topic connect to your Research Essay? What is the best format for conducting your interview? your interviewee

Surveys  Choose a demographic.  Include a random sampling.  Be specific about who you chose and why.  Choose a format.  Open-ended questions.  Multiple-choice questions.  A combination.

Survey Design  Ask demographic questions first.  A shorter survey will garner more results.  Format matters. Consider including a cover letter explaining who you are and what you’re doing.  Online  Paper  Medium matters.  Digital distribution  surveymonkey.com, , listservs  Printed distribution  public locations, schools, malls,

Survey Design  Avoid loaded questions.  Loaded: In what ways is texting a valid form of writing?  Assumes that the person already considers texting a valid form of writing, which may not be true.  More neutral: Do you consider texting a form of writing? Please explain.  Avoid vague questions.  Vague: Do you like writing?  Specific: In your profession, what kinds of writing do you do and what kinds, if any, do you find particularly interesting?

Survey Design  Using open-ended questions:  Multiple answers.  Analyzing and coding.  No answers from participants.  Using multiple-choice questions:  Limited responses.  Need to provide likely, valid choices and a way for participants to “opt out” (e.g., N/A; I don’t know; none of the above).  More answers from participants.

Textual Analysis  Choose a text that you want to analyze.  Novels, Facebook statuses, blogs, Web sites, student essays, movies, lyrics, bumper stickers—be creative!  Gather enough texts (i.e., data) to find patterns in what you see and start counting the frequency of what you find.  Categorize your findings and analyze what your findings suggest.

Textual Analysis Jus showin sum luv 2 yo page. sum luv 2 Jus showin yo page