English 444: Conducting Qualitative Research (Fall 2010)

In this senior seminar, students will learn various methods for conducting primary qualitative research including interviewing and oral history research, archival research, and ethnographic research. Students will conduct a major research project using both primary and secondary research. Of particular focus in this class will be the ethics of representation; we’ll ask: what is a fair representation? This course will draw on students’ well-honed English major skills―researching, interpreting, analyzing, storytelling, and persuasion. Yet, it will challenge students to use these skills in ways that will be new for many students either in scope, in method, or in genre.

Course Goals
·       To introduce students to qualitative research methods for use on the job, in teaching, in organizations, or in graduate programs (English or other).
·       To provide students practice at designing and executing a qualitative research project and written report.
·       To give students experience at presenting qualitative research in an oral, professional conference-style presentation (20 minute individual presentation with Q & A).
·      To allow students opportunity to develop a professional (writing) portfolio to develop best writing/projects for employment, posterity, or graduate school.

Required Texts
Doing Research in the Real World by David Gray, 2nd Ed.
Readings on E-Course Reserve (http://www.bsu.edu/library/collections/coursereserves/)

Attendance Policy
Because this class is centered on in-class discussion, group work, and in-class writing, attendance is required. Missing more than two classes, for any reason will lower your grade significantly; I will deduct 5 points off your final grade for each absence over 2. If you miss more than six classes, per departmental policy, you will not pass the course. A missed conference also counts as an absence.

Additionally, being late is not acceptable. If you are late more than twice during the semester, I will deduct 3 points from your final grade for each additional time you are late. The same policy holds for leaving early.

Late Work
Late work is not acceptable (unless you have documentation of an extremely dire situation: accident report, hospital bill, etc.).  If you have to miss class on a day an assignment is due, please arrange to have a classmate bring it to class for you, bring it to me before class, or email it to me before class.

Classroom Expectations
Respect for others is expected. Any behavior that distracts (eating, talking while others are talking, etc.) or is disrespectful (personal attacks, etc.) is unacceptable. Students may be asked to leave the classroom if they choose to act in such a way.

Plagiarism/Academic Misconduct
Using someone else’s ideas or words as your own on any assignment is plagiarism.  It is a violation of the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities as defined in the student handbook (or at www.bsu.edu/sa/dean/stucode/) and will be treated as such. If you are concerned about inadvertently violating this policy, please see me before completing the assignment.

Student Needs
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible.

Writing Center & Optional Conferences
You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the Writing Center.  The Writing Center offers free one-to-one assistance on all of your writing projects for all of your classes. The Writing Center is located in RB 291. It is open Monday-Thursday 10-8 and Fridays 10-2. You may drop by or make an appointment at www.bsu.edu/writingcenter/.

Alternatively, if at any point in the course you’d like to meet with me to discuss an assignment, reading, revision, or another aspect of the course, you may.  You are welcome to come during my office hours, or we can arrange another meeting time.  As a professional courtesy, I expect you to show up if you ask me to make a special appointment to meet with you.

Assignments

In-Class Writing Responses [50 points]  Many classes will begin with an in-class writing response. You will be asked a prompt at the beginning of class about the assigned readings and will be given 15 minutes to write a response. Students coming in late will not be given extra time; absent students will not be able to make up missed responses. Students who wish to type responses should bring a laptop to class. We will do 11 of these; your lowest score will be dropped. Each response will be worth 5 points.

Discussion Leading [15 points]
Each of you will take a turn as a discussion leader this semester. Your job will be to read the reading very closely to understand it well.  Then you will formulate a series of questions on the readings that your classmates will respond to in whole group discussion. The questions should not only be on comprehension (like: What is a case study?).  Instead, most of your questions should be thought-provoking—most likely, they will be questions that have no one right answer (like: In this chapter the author writes about objectivity in conducting interviews. Is this possible? Is it desirable?). See the difference?  Your goal is to get the class excited to discuss the readings.

You will be evaluated on your questions and your ability to ignite, direct, lead, and carry the discussion that follows. The discussion should last for at least 15-20 (but no more than 30) minutes. You might decide to assign an activity to inspire discussion. This is fine as long as there is still time devoted to discussion of the readings also. You will likely want to prepare about 6-10 questions though it is very possible that we won’t get to all of them. Please have your questions on a powerpoint (or similar text) so the class can easily read the questions and you can jump to specific questions as the conversation dictates; turn in all of your question to me at the end of class.


Qualitative Research Project [150 points] This is your major project for the course. There are four parts to this assignment: Topic Memo, Proposal & Lit Review, Professional Oral Presentation, and Written Report.

Topic Memo
Your first task for the research project is to complete a topic memo. In a memo addressed to me, you will propose the research topic that you wish to work on this semester. Specifically, you should address these questions:

What do you want to research and what’s your personal connection/interest in the subject?
Why do you think it needs to be studied more? What isn’t known?
Why is it a good time to study this topic?
Why are you a good person to study it? What access do you have?
What ethical issues do you foresee with researching this topic? What logistical issues?
Why should others be interested in this—the so what? question?
What kind of research do you think you will do to study this topic during this semester?

You should answer these questions as completely as you can at this early stage. It is likely that your topic and approach to researching it might shift or change in the coming weeks. You might end up doing more than one Topic Memo, in fact. Your first attempt is due Sept. 7.



Professional Portfolio with Reflective Introduction [35 points]

Schedule
Aug 23: Introductions
25: DR Chapters 1 & 2

30: DR Chapters 3 & 4
Sept 2: DR 5 & 7

7: DR Chapters 12 & 14; Topic Memo due
9: “Interviewing” on E-Reserve; “Why Do Oral History?” on E-Reserve

14: DR Chapter 15
16: “In the Field: Participating, Observing, and Jotting Notes” on E-Reserve

21: DR Chapter 16
23: “Researching Archives” on E-Reserve

28: Sample Student Project
30: Peer Review: Proposals & Lit Review

Oct 5: Revised Proposal and Lit Review due
7: DR Chapter 18

12: DR Chapter 19
14: DR Chapter 20 (only to 564)

19: Sample Research Project: Interview/Oral History
21: Sample Research Project: Ethnographic

26: Sample Research Project: Archival
28: Presentations

Nov 2: Presentations
4: Presentations

9: Presentations
11: Presentations

16: Peer Review: Research Report
18: Conferences: Research Report

23: Fruesday; No class
25: Thanksgiving; No class

30: Composing Resumes
Dec 2: Composing Professional Documents

Dec 7: Peer Review: Portfolios
9: Conferences: Portfolios

16: Final Exam Period: Portfolios due; Portfolio Presentations