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Conducting by Primary Research M0). question deals with @ specific local sit uation, for instance, primary res nt be the bi example, Kiras situation deta squires primary res her research question, types of prim interviews, and Lh method pro. Vides distinct possibilities for the kinds formation youcan gather and the waysin Which you might answer a research que lookat Table 5.1 on page 93 for ns of types of primary research. > =) ~ ~ ~~ ~ = 2 a 2 2 2 = 2 eer rer ters eae eer areen Cereus Ca) Pian ond Ua Nc Cor Uti RE Cue ct Ren} EOeO Ener’ Por ihe (erm tae] UT arg ate TUDO DSRS ROOTED Awthor: Kira, a student at a community callege, is taking a biology class and her profes- sor has asked the class to consider community practices ! that affect the environment. Her assignment includes writ: ing an investigative report on One issue and its implications ‘on the environment. Topic: kirahas noticed that the students on her campus fil to use recycling bins for aluminum cans and plastic bottles, and she decides to investigate the reasons students don't recycle on campus. Asdience: Kira primary audience is her biology professor, and her: secondary Audience isthe staff on her campus who might be interested in recycling efforts Purpose: Kiras immediate purposeis to write a report to full the requirement for her biology dass. An additional purpose, though, isto raise awareness among students, faculty, and staff about the importance of recylng QUESTIONS |. How would Kira gather information about the frequency of recycling on her aS campus? 2. How might Kira use the research that others have published to support her investigation? +. Ifyou were Kira, what would be your first step in working on this project? “ees of Primacy Research Gathering data Harongh you absecvations re gentle in (hiding questions ofone or mere cea Terviews renter [paking questions oF larger arom of matte saereye ‘As you read the descriptions of different methods of primary cesearch in this chap. ‘often use more than one method of gathering data in order to avoid inaccuracies in the research and to confi findings. Validating the research results isthe resear ‘ responsibilty, and you coulel confirm your research conclusions by finding two or three reliable sources or methods that provide similar he question about recycling on ‘campus, Kira realizes that she cant answer her question solely by reading the research hers have published. She right be able to gather some general information through secondary resources about why people don't recycle but she won't be abl to determine reasons for lack of recycling on her campus. Instead, she plans to form 1 hypothesis about whether or not people recycle on her campus (based on the gen eral information she gleans from her secondary resources), and then she will test that nypothesis by conducting a series of observations to determine the extent of the prob: lem. She could also develop a hypothesis about why people dorrt recycle on campus and test it by conducting interviews with students on campus and designing and dis tributing a survey. Her secondary research will help her determine the extent of the problem (ancl might help her fine-tune her research question), but the results of her primary research will form the basis of her response to her research question. Such hods will help her interpret the data mote accurately, especialy if that analysis is paired with background investigation from secondary resources that help her understand the results of her primary research, 9 JV Conducting Primary Research When researchers conduct observations, they useall oftheir senses to note everything they can about a subject and its environment. Observations can be a useful way to gather first-hand information about a subject by relying on senses and note-taking skills. Observing a subject directly is sometimes a useful way to narrow your research {question down in the invention stage, to determine the extent of a problem or issue that your research question addresses, orto answer the question itself, Observations are often a central part of a research project, as the following research questions show, 2 How do bilingual speakers switch back and forth between English and ‘Spanish in casual conversation? In this case, a researcher would observe the Conversation of bilingual speakers and note when they switch back and forth between languages. 8 At what times of day are voting locations most busy on election days? To answer this question, a researcher might abserve voting locations at various times of the day, 18 Towhat degree does “light pollution” obscure the view of the night sky in a particular metropolitan area? Part of the response to this research question should include an observation of the night sky on various occasions, Including Observation in Your Research Plan Your rhetorical situation may or may not call for observation. Consider the following questions as you determine whether observation would be a useful data-gathering technique for your project. © Is there a person, place, activity, or ritual that you might watch, hear, cz experience in order to answer your research question? Ifo, you might want to directly observe your subject 8. Would observing your subject over time provide data that would help you answer your research question? In this case, you might schedule observa tions at certain Intervals that would help you collect the appropriate data, @ Would your presence as an observer influence the subject that you are ‘observing? This influence is often called the observer's paradox—the presence of the observer sometimes affects the environment being observed and, therefore, the data collected. Sometimes it cannot be avoided, but it is important for the researcher to be aware of his or her potential influence on the subject being observed. © @ Could you participate in an event, ritual, or environment that would give you unique insight into the subject you are studying? Ifso, you might Consider being a participant observer, an ethnographic term for a person who is collecting data and researching a subject while participating in or with it. In such 2 case, you need to be clear about your relationship to the subject when VG eeOEKE NNNNNNNNNANNNNHNAHHHKEOECEEE nanan t Observation = Aa TO arpa ada Ti * Pht peat oeeomgrtesge 0 - eilasferaPyerleBnnicshy = Fred TACT Botner 5 fave 2 Foti meee dea bs 5 thee corre erhing WS aeaen a pene > ce nem eat : rape raroat Palacio tS = naa FigureS.1 Example of Double-Entry Jounal " 1 describe your data-collection method, and consider your perspective as a > participant in your analysis ofthe data . Conducting an Observation > Once you have decided to conduct an observation, what should you do? First, deter > mine where and when you will observe and have a plan for taking clear notes about S your subject as you observe. Some researchers keep notes in a journal, and! many > organize thelr journals as double-entry journals to keep their observation and analy > sis/response separate. n a double-entry journal, one side is generally reserved for th : observations themselves (which might even be organized by senses or themes) and = the other side is used for interpretation, response, of comment on the observations. > For example, if someone were observing the coffee shop where one of the authors o = this textbook likes to sit and write and were keeping notes in a double-entry journal, it = might look something lke Figure 5.1. The observations ae listed on the left-hand side, > and the observer wrote comments and interpretations about what he or she observed * oon the right-hand side. Such notes could be taken in either a journal notebook or o Response specibe clientele, could be infinenced by Fhe neighborhood Shag is organiaed Fa cater to people ihe come here’te werk oF get onan eter cermerel tir Could almast Function as an “office svsay From wor’ Even the space that is designed for rate GaiherneneTbetng wea by dividuals whe are working FIY@ conducting Primary Research Careful note-taking is essential to completing a useful observation, especially if person responsible for data collection, Ideally, you will conduct your illhave a dif ferent perspective. You might write down some of your interpretations as you conduct the observation (or immediately after), but then you might add interpretations in the right-hand column when you read your notes later. As you read the notes, especally hen you have some distance from the subject, patterns will emerge that might lead to interesting conclusions about your subject. In addition to having a clear plan for taking notes during your ob should keep in mind that its not possible to be entiely objective when you obser Your experiences, beliefs, and perspective wil influence you, dra fence as much as possible, though, and to be aware of -and try tolimit—the influences that could bias your observation, to dos0is to have a method for conducting the observation, If you have never done an observation, try the following exercise to pservation skills, and then consider using the strategy for collecting data to you are the sol “observation and then have time to return to your notes later, when you vation, you 1s, sounds, and smells (among other things), You should strive to experi practice Practice Observing Your Subject Choose a space to observe for 10 minutes. might be a location on your campus, at your place of work, orn your home, Make sue that you wort be interrupted forthe 10 minutes that you are observing, and bring a double-enty journal with you to record your observations, Note: You might practice this method by observing space with which you ae familiar before beginning your obser vation for your research projec 1 Startby observing the space immed ‘3, Again, extend your observation out ately surrounding you only going out about ten feet, recording what you ine or twa Feet ram where you are bserve trough each of your siting. Fist observe what you see, t what you earthen what you smell 4 touch, and tase Finally, focus on each sense and down everyting you bserve—as far 2. tend your observation outa as you can see hear, smell, touch, a Again record what you observe with taste each of your (Once you have finished noting your observations take a moment to write comments on you observations i the othe column of your double-enty journal, What patterns do you see? What surprised you? nes THti@ibtesin a doule-enty journal can be a cecord your subjecteitir through a video.» eat ay tcoita ding an observation, orausorecting. you vantatanscpt | fang but other kinds of technology can help facilitate of language use or of sound, an audio Conduct Interviews Online < out If you conduct the interview using Goo INicient (among others), transcript oftheinte view will be automaticaly saved for you, ef possiblity fs to have a synchronous voice interview using an application suchas Skype tp: online phone ser vice thats fee, Both you and your interviewee uld need to ceate Skype accounts, and you need microphones in order to use such an application, You could also conduct an interview using a webcam or video conference, sick to technologies that are easly sible to bath you ang your interviewee vihich you are both familias they don't become distractions the best option, Because a survey can take a considerable amount of time to design, distribute, and assess, it works best when the researcher has a well-defined research a widespread trend or phe h questions, How do American college students rate speakers of different dialects of ‘American English on multiple characteristics such as intelligence, likeabil How many citizens in my town generally vote on election days, and what reasons do they give? & How well do graduating seniors from my college feel the required first- year writing class(es) prepared them for the writing they did in other college classes? - Inctuding a Survey in Your Research Plan ‘To decide if a survey would fit the criteria for your thetorical situation, consider not only the kind of data you would need to answer your research question but also how ous amount of feasible it would be to conduct a survey. Surveys can take a tremens time to do wel, and you would need access to the appropriate people who would be willing to complete your survey. As you determine whether or not you will conduct a - survey, consider the following questions. = (© What can | learn froma survey that I can't learn from an interview or observa- : tion? Surveys enable a researcher to ask questions ofa large group of people - and also have the advantage of providing the researcher with the exact responses of the participants in text form, (Of course, an email interview would do the lattes, too. @ How many people would I like to poll in order to answer my research ques: tion? Ifthe numberis larger than you could reasonably interview, a survey might be the way to go. The number for your research project must be small enough : to be manageable butlarge enough so that you will have the interpretive power necessary to answer your research question. You might have noticed that all of the sample research questions jus listed involve surveying large groups of > people who have something in common (American college students citizens in my town, graduating seniors in my college). In other words, one of the fist > challenges of conducting a survey is determining who you will survey. 7 Many students who are designing surveys forthe first time make the mistake of surveying an unrepresentative group. For example, in the recycling scenario > at the beginning of the chapter, if Kira surveys twenty of her friends, she is not = likely to get a representative sample (because they te all her friends, and twenty isa falrly small number if she's generalizing her results to the whole campus) wever (especially ifthe asses are in different departments), she might come closer to getting a better representation of the student population on her campus. If she surveys the students in a few different clases, h 1 Dot have the time to design a successful survey, distribute it, collect 2 responses, and analyze the data? Surveys can be quite time-consuming, and you will want to consider how much time you have to devote to your project as you design your survey. Conducting a Survey if you have determined that you should conduct a survey for your research project, in addition to choosing a representative group of participants, you need to pay close |V@ Conducting Primary Research in design: (1) writing successful survey questions and 2) distributing and collecting your survey. First, a8 you write the questions for your survey, think about how many responses you will be analyzing; keep your project manageable. Its also critical to consider the kinds of questions an Ip you answer your research question. Two kinds of questions are most common on surveys: closed, of fixed ended. Take a look at the different kinds of questions in Table 5.3 responses that wil sponse and open. Clesed Guestion egebecly glace wed ogencfnded Gxestion ea de oa re C Many surveys incorporate both closed and open-ended questions so that the mpared but participants can also explain their information that helps to interpret the results researcher has statistics that can be wers, giving the researcher interesting asf of the survey. > Draft Survey Questions 7 Before you begin to write specific questions for your survey, write your response to the following | 7 prompts. =) Who will you survey? How and why did What do you need to know from your } you choose this group of people? survey participants? Why do you want to = survey them? A to know? Generate alist. Naw go through your ist and put the things you would ike to know in order ~ of prioty Net, consider the kindof dt that woud be mos ust in esponding to your research 5 cuestion. Should ame quests be ced questions in oer to lle quanta dat Which = nes shouldbe open-ended? Final, ite 2 question foreach tem on yours. Before using your survey with a age group of people test ton a few rend. Lok for points of J confusion inthe survey. Which question shoud be revised fr day? Asyou test your survey, yal also be determining whether the surveys valid and reliable. Ask the % BAB olowing questionsasyou reise the draft of your 1 Isitvalia? Does the survey actually paricpats?Yoursurey isthe | assess what supposed tases For administered and scored consistently edn example inthe eeyng scenario asking inorder tobereiable. For example, wwe deta 7 Do you think ecclng is important?” participants should havea similar x "easstien doesn’t tell the researcher whether the amount of time to respond, and if tative 4 person cycles. Also ifthe questions are youre ooking for patterns in open 2 confusing, you might not be testing” the ended responses, you should consider | [Sts m same thing for everyone. ———— GIsitrelabe? isthe survey conducted ina similar way and scored identically fr all FIV@ Conducting Primary Research Once you have designed your survey, you will need to plan how to distribute and col lect responses. One of the biggest challenges in conducting a survey is getting people to respond, so you might consider some strategies that would help incr Fesponse rate, Some researchers offer incentives to survey participants (but the incen- tives shouldn't influence the data) For example, incentives could be food, a gift certify cate, or something else that would be of value to the participants. Anather strategy is to.conduct the survey na closed space, ike a classroom (with the teachers permission, (of course). One of the disadvantages of this strategy is that limits the group of partic pants, but it might increase the number of responses. All strategies should be disclosed hen you report the results of your research eee > Consider Online Survey Services < ne way to increase response rates on a sur- if it would be a useful strategy for your research Vey isito.make the survey easy and convenient projec. Many online survey services willhelp you to complete=by putting it online. You might analyze the data by displaying graphic represen look at an online survey service such as Survey- tatons ofthe results Monkey hit://waww surveymonkey.com) to see Ethical Considerations Ifyou are conducting research that will Include other people (especially if you are ask ing questions of them), then youll probably need approval from a group on campus ves human subjects. Such a group is usually called an, institutional review board (IRB), and it exists to make sure that research on humans is conducted ethically and doesnt violate anyone's rights adverse effects on health or well-being, W IRBs, although schools that are less focused on research might not. Ask your instruc cl by an IRB a that oversees research that in specially privacy) or have 1 institutions of higher education have tor if your project would need to be revie if your school provides a process for gaining IRB approval fora project. Even if you do not need IRB approval, the people observation, if you are observing ina closed space. An observation in a public space ou will need consent, or permission, from hat you are interviewing or surveying, You might also ask consent for an like a restaurant, would not generally require consent. To ask for consent, you would ds close as much as you can about your project (without altering the data you are hoping to collect) and then ask for the participant’ consentand signature. lf you are collecting a physical signature from the participant, so you data electronically, you cannot co ane8e8 ‘might use an electronic signature or inelule an "I grant permission’ button in the su vey form. In either caso, youll want to phrase the letter dlfferently. Figure 5.2 shows a letter of consent writtan fora research project that included completing online surveys. The goal ofthe stucly was to compare how well students believed they had achieved the objectives of a cowye in consent does not go into much detail 60 2s not ta influence the students’ responses) onments, but natice that the letter of | inthe Deparment of English at XX University. 1am conducting in ENG 101/102, one atthe beginning of the term and one at th will not affevt your grade ane! you will not be penalized in any wat Although the survey will ask far your name, your name will only he used 10 identify your survey if you shoul choose to withdraw from Susana Rodrigue Figure 5.2 ote foment you are working under an instructor's supervision, you could inelude the instruc ‘ors name in the letter of consent as your project advisor, Make sure that you shou any research plans and your letter of consent to your instructor before starting your *F@ Conducting Primary Research > Gather Data Online < H you gather data in an online environment, you stillet to get consent from your participants. The ines are somewhat bury, though in spaces Such as online gaming environments, chat rooms, and virtual worlds such as Second Life. The best tule of thumb to follow sto obtain consent fom anyone you are observing, interviewing, or sur eying, A simple consent etter can be provided to participants that either cllets thelr elec ‘tonic consent through a signature ar permission button, o that indicates that if they participate in the activity you are observing while you ae observing it or complete the interview survey you ae conducting, their participation indicates their consent. tis also a good idea to check the ocumentation for any gaming environments, chatrooms, or vitual words in which you would lie to conduct research to see if procedures for Conducting research or limitations an research are state, Interpretation of Data You might remember from the beginning of the chapter that itis best to collect data from a variety of sources and in a variety of manners to compare responses and inter pret the results, Researchers call this triangulation of the data. Consider this scenario: imagine that you conduct a survey and receive several similar responses to one ques tion. But one of your participants gives a response that is completely opposite to all the ther responses. ifthe survey was not anonymous and you have the opportunity to do 8 follow-up interview with that participant, you could ask about his or her response to understand it better—instead of jumping to conclusions about that response or dis missing it without knowing the purpose or reasoning behind it. As another example, think about the ways that you have seen your teachers evalu ‘ated, Most likey, ou ve had to fill outan evaluation survey fora teacher at the end of a course, You likely have also been ina classroom when a teacher was being observed by someone, When the teacher js evaluated, all ofthe data can be considered. For examn- ifthe students’ written evaluations note that the instructor is particularly good at leading class discussion, the observer might be able to elaborate on that evaluation by describing several specific things the teacher did in class that facilitated discussion. LUkewise, two separate types of data can pick up different trends. For example, if the students note in their evaluations that the teacher is particularly helpful in office hours ‘outside of class, the observer would not have observed that. In this case, it would be important to have both survey data and observation data in order to faily assess the teacher’ performance as a whole. (Once you collect your data, search for pattems that will help you draw conclusions. There are two major categories of data—quantitatve and qualitative—and your analy sis and interpretation will vary depending on which type of data you have collected. ple, Analyzing Quantitative Data ‘Quantitative data can be analyzed numerically. You can tally results and compare aver fages look or statistical pattems, and determine whether a majority of respondents said thesame thing, Of the types of research discussed inthis chapter, only surveys can gener ily be used to collect quantitative data, Quantitative data are often valued because they are more generalizable; thats, they are collected froma large population. Analyzing Qualitative Data Qualitative data are not intended to be analyzed statistically, bu sight into a subject. Interviews and observations provide qualitative data as do the penvended responses on surveys. When you analyze qualitative data, you look for potteens and trends. In some cases, you might be searching forthe number of times Jou observed a certain phenomenon or the number of times participant used cer ‘sin word or phrase, but because of the small number of participants you would not ‘raw statistical conclusions about the significance of a phenomenon or generalize the fecults to larger population, In this case, you would want to carefully aggregate the Tata and have a second person also aggregate the data, identifying the occurrences Sa phenomenon. This process f called coding. The second coder would help to pro Side inter-rater reliability. In other words, the results are more powerful because the ‘one verifying the patterns in the data, You can check your xy can provide researcher is not the only interpretation of the data with another person. Regardless of whether you collect quantitative or qualitative data, strive to phrase your conclusion in a way that Is appropriate to what i called the interpretive power Bf your study, Youll want to provide your readers with a clear understanding of the limits of extending your results, based on the scope of your study and the way you defined your thetorical situation. You could also use hedging terms to provide forthe possiblity that another researcher would finda diferent resutsince you willbe unable Pe observe all situations or interview/survey all possible participants, Hedging terms include words like generally, usually, often, might, and could, For example, let's imagine that Kira, when conducting the recycling project, surveyed 75 students and found that 80 percent of the survey respondents mentioned that the recycling bins on campus nore not conveniently located. She could write in her conclusion that “The location ofthe recycling bins Isa fkely reason that students do not recycle regularly” Using the ly allows forthe fact that she did not survey all students, and not everyone fe same way on her survey. Yet, 80 percent is a strong response rate for ter responded th sucha large number of students, Presenting the Results of Primary Research ch in many disciplines, especially those When you present the resuits of primary rese you to follow what is inthe sciences and social sciences, your audience might expect bften called IMRAD format. IMRAD is an acronym tht stands for the following steps: generally an introduction to the subject, an overview of the @ Introduction— and a clearly stated research question. This secondary research on the topic. section should answer What’ the subject? 8 Methodology—a clear description of the methods used to conduct the jing a description of the participants, how they were selected | Conducting Primary Research what was observed, how they were anal jestions were asked, how data were collected, and data, this where you would explain your process). This section shouild answer What did ed (ie, if you had a second coder look at the you do? 16 Results—a presentation of the data collected. This is generally separate from any analysis of those data, which comes in the next section. This section should answer What did you find? © Analysis—conclusions you have drain from the data you collected. This sec tion should answer What do the results mean? 6. Discussion—implications of the results of your research or suggestions you are making based on the results and analysis of your data. This section should + What are the implicat ans nsof the results?, or more informally, So what? If you'te not sure what format to use to present the results of your research, [MAD provides a useful outline to follow. Decide What Primary Data to Collect lf you have read this entre chapter, you might already have an idea ofthe kindof primary data you should collect. i youre stil havin trouble deciding, though, try writing your responses to these {questions which were asked inthe sections on observations, interviews, and surveys Observations 1D Istherea person, place, activity, or ritual that you might wath, hea, or experince inorder your research question? ving your subject overtime provide data that research question? Id help you answer your 1 Could you participate nan event, ital, or environ insight into the subject you are studying? that would give you a unique Interviews (Would talking to experts in a particular eld help you to answer your research question? 1 Would speain your research question? h participants in or members ofa specific community help you to answer What coud you learn fom speaking with someone that you cant learn fram reading aleady published information or ftom conducting an observation? Surveys y that you can't lean from an interview or observation? What can you lear rom a sure G_ How many people would you need to poll in order to answer your research question? 1 Doyou ha lect responses, and analyze the time to design asu data? ful survey, distribute NE eer e oc adgg 29 WANNNnns wuduuuus VUUUUOK _Atthis point, tak sometime to plan the kinds f research you need to conduct. Athe end of Chapter 4, You might have started 2 research plan that sorted through thefferent kinds of secondary resources foryou project. you are interested in conducting primary research, you can take that information and putitinto a more comprehensive esearch plan, using the chart below, You also need to decide when you are going to complete your research, Keepin mind that wl be ofthe utmost importance to manage your time wel if you are conducting primary research; be sure to plan enough time to collect and analyze data,

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