9.24 Group work to answer a question + assignments for next class

You spent the remainder of class working in groups to answer a research question.
I'm looking forward to reading your posts!

For next class:
Read: Data Set 3 (posted to the right)
 Texting and Writing  Michaela Cullington

Blog 4: Post an answer to one of the 10 questions we created in class.  Support each part of your answer with evidence from the data.  Evidence should take the form of examples to illustrate particular content or forms and statements about the frequency of particular particular patterns. 

Your post should:
state your question
identify the members of your group by first name
each member of your group should post the same language

Examples of frequency statements.   (6 out of the 10 jottings did. . . ;  in the notes as a whole, professor chandler is mentioned 26 times, 10 in jottings, 5 in head notes, 10 in remembered later, and 1 in observations )(not true - you would need to count this); or far-back statements accounted for less than half of the statements in jottings, but close to 90% of statements in observations (I made this up, it is not true - it is an example of how you should be using numbers to support your claims about what the data does)

9.24 Discussion of ethnographic notes

We started  class with a discussion of notes on the in-class even taken by the other section.  I have pasted in my notes on our discussion of what we saw,
Jottings

Content

What observer did

What others did

Used positin in room + who was talking as jottings

Trigger = note on professor

Names

Form

Single/word phrases

Whole sentences

Sometimes more like headnotes (long sentences, whole thoughts)

Strategies for taking jottings

Strong participation (direct what others will say)

Write down what will trigger recollection of the whole event

Write down what will be forgotten

Write down everything

Organized jottings by experience (see 8)

Head notes
content

Inner reflections

Generalizations

Details

Unpack jottings

Move between close-in and far back

Form

Paragraphs

Chronological

Generalizations

Short phrases

Strategies

Go from the beginning to the end to write down everything that you didn’t have time to write down while you were there

Use your jottings

Associate to what you do remember

Remember later

Fill in details

Conversations!  Names! Realizations about general behavior

Far back observations

We then had a discussion about what kinds of questions we might ask about these data sets and you came up with the questions in the next post.

9.24 Research questions

1. What did the group do? What does this behavior show about the class culture?

2. What do these notes show about the way beginning ethnographers take notes? Jottings, head notes, remembered + observations?  What does the teacher need to give moe support for?

3. What do these notes suggest about how we might create notes for our research? What kinds of notes would be useful/  What kinds not so useful?

4. What forms seemed most effective for each of the 4 different kinds of notes?  What ws the purp0se for each form?  And which kinds of notes best met that purpose?

5. Which organization structures supported strong note taking?  Which strategies worked in the different kinds of notes?

6. When did note takers tend to look close in – and when far back?  How did the note taker’perspective shape his/her notes (the details s/he wrote)?  How did decisions about taking a close in/far back perspective affect the usefulness/effectivness of the notes in term of providing evidence? offering generalizations? 

7. What are the relationships between the content/detailed observations and the generalizations? Is there enough detail to support the generalization?  If not – what would suggest to help a note taker to write stronger notes?

8. Is there bias in these notes?  What looks like bias?  What kinds of moves are dangerous for including bias?

9.17 Part 2 - Introduction to ethnography

We spent the second half of class reading about & practicing (!) ethnography.

We started by talking about what ethnography is and what makes it particularly challenging.  We used the reading on Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes to frame our discussion.  This reading defines ethnography (more or less) as: the inscription of participatory experiences of indigenous culture represented from the perspectives of the observed culture.  This definition emphasizes the participatory nature of ethnography.  As you re-read this material for class next week, pay particular attention to the 4 consequences of this definition for writing fieldnotes.  They are listed at the bottom of the fifth page, under the heading Implications for writing fieldnotes.

In our discussion we noted that:

• ethnographers need to participate in the culture they are studying in order to understand how that culture works;
• that writing (documenting) culture  is central to ethnography;
• that ethnographers' presence/participation will necessarily change what it is possible to observe (just by the fact of their being there);
• and that ethnographers interpretations of what participants' culture "means" - may or may not agree with what participants think their culture means.  

These four features of ethnography are discussed in detail in the first half of the essay.

We spend some time analyzing the 3 examples of fieldnote write ups.  I pointed out that the writing associated with ethnography does not begin with this kind of writing.  In the field, ethnographers make "jottings" - shorthand, meaningful represenations of what happened that allow the ethnographer to remember the details of what took place during the observation.  Jottings are then supplemented - immediately after the observation or as close to that time as is possible - with "headnotes".  This is everything the ethnographer remembers about what happened.  Jottings and headnotes are then used to compose the kinds of fieldnote representations we read. 

The point of reading 3 different versions of fieldnotes documenting more or less the same kind of interactions => was to show that experience can be described from MANY different perspectives.  The three representations we read were identified as having a focus on: objective/spatial relationships; an interpersonal or interactive perspective that includes the experiences of the observer; and a relational documentation of interactions between the individuals on the scene.  No one representation captures the "truth" => each kind of representation provides a different window on "what happened".

Interactive ethnographic exercise: participant observation in a class event.  We spent the last part of class doing an interactive ethnographic exercise.  Everyone was asked to get up out of their seats and come to the middle aisle, and talk to people - particularly people they did not know.  And you were asked to take "jottings" = quick, shorthand notes to help you remember - in as much detail as possible - what happened. 

The "event" lasted about 8 minutes.  I then asked you to go to your seats and add your headnotes to your jottings.  While you were witing - we made a list on the board of some of the kinds of "details" you might include in your notes:

• where people were standing, who was in which group, how people moved among groups, the overall configuration of the groups in the room
• who talked to whom, short quotes of what people said, the sequence of talk, the overall focus of conversation, silences, laughing, questions, talk inside and outside your group, people leaving and joining groups
• Chandler's role in the "event", what she said, where she stood, what she did, tone of voice, how comments were received, silences, interruptions,
• the "feeling" of the room, the noise level, the way talk sounded overall
• what people were wearing, facial expressions, body language, distances between speakers

When we summed up, you pointed out that the talk was "awkward" at the beginning and got more comfortable. That is probably true - but the point of ethnographic observation is to IDENTIFY THE FEATURES of what happened that SHOW (PROVE) that that is what happened. 

For next class:
Read: Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes
Blog 3: Post your ethnographic notes.  ALL of them - your jottings, your head notes - everything you wrote down and all that you can remember about the in-class exercise.  Label your notes.  There should be 4 categories:  jottings, headnotes, things I remembered later, and observations about what happened.

In class next Tuesday we will analyze our notes on the in-class ethnographic "event."  You will first define a question, or a problem, you want to use this data to explore.  Then you will name and classify the different elements in the notes, notice patterns, and pose and test theories relevant to your question/problem.  We will talk more about how to do this in class. 

What a fun class tonight!   Thanks for your good participation and see you on Sept 24 (or before for your conference => see the last post for the schedule of conferences).

 

9.17 Part 1 -Schedule for conferences and more talk about discourse & discourse communities

If you have not yet turned in your NIH training certificate - send it to me at the course email asap.

Research projects:  You signed up for conferences to talk about ideas for your research project.  The schedule is for the week beginning Monday, Sept. 23, and all meetings will be in my office, CAS 324.

Monday, Sept 23: 10:00 Julissa; 10:15 Sam; 10:30 Sarina; 2:00 Jaleel; 2:45 Danielle B; 3:30 Bri
Tuesday, Sept 24: 10:30 Carolina; 3:30 Trisha; 3:45 Jennifer; 4:00 Tanaera
Wednesday, Sept 25: 2:00 Silvia, 2:15 Eli; 3:15 Tania, 3:30 Rachel
Thursday, Sept 26: 3:45 Danielle J

Do some writing/thinking over the weekend what kind of research project you might like to do.  I will help you find writing studies research relevant to your study, and talk about what kind of methods you might use to work on your study.

Presentations on shaggy dog stories.  Great presentations!   Each group demonstrated the kind of naming, categorizing, and theorizing (about what elements are 'essential') characteristic of language analysis for writing studies!  Good start on this.  I will give you some written feedback on your blog posts by next class.  To receive credit - each group member needs to have the analysis posted on his or her blog.

I apologize for rushing you through these presentations - especially the groups at the end (sorry, Eli).  It did not reflect the quality of your work - but rather the fact that (as usual) I'd scheduled just a few too many activities for class and I was worried about covering them all. 

Mini-lecture on discourse & Discourse
We talked about discourse some more, only this time - after restating that discourse is "language in use" - we began with your definitions of language.  Your list is as follwows.

a form of communication - a way to know others
expresses self and feelings
conveys ideas
creates knowledge
adapts/changes => depending on who you are talking to and what you are talking about (by context)
has many different forms

Your definitions covered all the main concepts linguists include when they write about language.  James Gee defines language as not just the grammar & vocabulary, but as allowing us to do, say, and be things.  These are exactly the concepts for language that your definitions cover! 

Discourse:  We then spent some time focused on the concept of Discourse - which includes not just all the language we use to "be" ourselves, but also all the other ways we create meaningful communication about our identities (who we are).  Discourse includes not just how you talk (and all the ways you talk including word choice, tone of voice, accent and so on) but also how you dress, behave, your facial expressions, your values and beliefs and how you enact them => essentially everything about you that expresses who you are within a particular situation.  We each take part in many Discourses (which Gee defines as "identity toolkits") - the ways of talking, being, and thinking associated with our different identities.  I take part in teacher Discourse, as well as Discourses for being a white-middleclass female parent, for being a rural Pennsylvanian (my childhood Discourse), for being a researcher (as I work with my colleagues on different projects); for being folk dancer and so on. 

As an example, we made a list of student identities - including the "good"student, the disinterested student, the one there for the grade, the student with many demands on his/her life, the rebellious student, the class clown, the always talking student, the quiet student . . . .  These categories are complicated, and students move in and out of them for many different reasons.  To begin to understand some more detail about how students enact these identities in class, we made a list of "moves" students make to establish their student Discourse.  Here are the "moves" you came up with

talking in class
raising hand
calling out
being quiet in class
making on topic comments
talking off-topic, particularly about personal material
asking questions
answering teacher questions

where students sit
showing up on time
staying in the room
eating during class

taking notes
coming to class prepared

Analysis of language moves that define different Discourses. As we discussed this list, I pointed out some of the linguistic terms associated with talking = holding the floor, or floor time, and turn taking.  These are two categories (names for moves that speakers use in different ways) that linguists use to analyze talk.

They might look at: who takes the most floor time?  What are the agreed upon practices for holding the floor?  Are their different expectations for holding the floor for different members of the community?  What do Discourse members do when someone violates agreed upon for holding the floor? 
or
What are the patterns for turn taking?  What are acceptable moves for interrupting turns?  Do turns overlap or is there only one person talking?  What are the practices/signals for ending or interrupting turns? 

Sample ethnographic essay.
We concluded the first half of class with an examination of the sample ethnography essay. Your suggestions about how to strengthen this essay were to:

•  state the focus more clearly at the beginning of the essay
•  use the focus to organize + develop the essay (delete material not relevant to focus)
• the overall organization was mostly good in that each section made the right moves - but the internal organization of the sections needed work.  Also, the author needed to delete some material + develop other material.
• write a stronger conclusion that is more specifically connected to the findings and the focus

We agreed that more work on revising this essay would make it much stronger. You made good observations in this discussion!  Check out the marginal comments and see if the authors of the text where this essay was published agree with our analysis. 
Discussion of what we did during the second part of class and the assignment for 9.24 is on the next blog.

9.10 Part 2: Defining Discourse Communities & what to do for next class

Important notes: 
1.  To read notes on analyzing shaggy dog stories, scroll down to the next post.
2.  The reading for next class, "Coaches can read, too" was sent to your Kean email as a pdf. 


Reading Swales essay.
We started out by acknowledging that this was not a "easy read".  At the same time, it has lots of important information about discourse communities.  So I asked you to notice the different moves the essay makes (as a way of identifying where the information you are going to need is located).  You already know how to do this - so very quickly you identified:

1.  an introductory section (about 20% of the essay's total length) where he states what other researchers have done and points out what he will add to this "conversation" (distinguish between speech + discourse community & define discourse community),
2. a long middle section (about 60%) where he gives is data/presents his "findings"/makes his point,
3. a (surprisingly long) conclusion (about 20%) - which was in my text but was not part of your assigned reading.
This is one pattern for a writing studies data.  Important consideration for you: does this essay include primary data?  Where would you put your primary data if you used this form?  How much "space" should your data take?

We then noted that this introduction was really written to people already IN the conversation (in that it really didn't give background on all those "famous" researchers who have written about discourse, relativist or social construcionist views of language etc) and that most of his "background" was presented in terms of ONE of the major researchers.  He then stated what he would add.

The presentation of his points - was pretty clear.  He used headings and numbers to identify the main points.  And the six points in part 2.3 were what we focused on in our discussion (and what you needed to pay attention to in your reading.

Defining a discourse community.
In our discussion of Swales features of a discourse community, we used his features as a way to "check" whether our ENG 3029 class was a discourse community (according to his criteria).
I've pasted in our observations.

A discourse community:

1. has a  set of common public goals -In the syllabus=public + we all know them

 

2. has mechanisms for intercommunication among members

Blogs, class meetings, emails, conferences, through drafting + commenting

3. Uses participatory mechanisms primarily for information + feedback

Commenting = TALK in class
+ common goal

4. uses and possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims (we translated this to mean that a discourse community uses genres for its own purposes, and in ways that change or "re-purpose" the genre so that it belongs to the group).

Genres we use:

Brainstorming + drafts + revising, research essays, interactive analysis, blogging (we do this a little differently than most social blogging),

Genre we read/analyzed :

Shaggy dog stories, academic essays, our own writing, or blogs, emails,

5. has a special lexis (one that belongs to the group)

You pointed out that we used the words: blog, analysis, community, methodology, critical, discourse (and other words) in ways in this classroom that are slightly different from the ways they are used other places. 

6.  has a threshold level of members with a suitable level of relevant content & expertise
We kind of skipped this one.  The point here is that the group is big enough so that the "practices" (the special ways we use genres, language, and communications) are "passed on" and used.  In some ways, the fact that this is a class with a teacher (a presumed expert) and students (participants) kind of ensures the membership feature – or does it?  Will we still be a discourse community after you leave this class? 

So - it looks like we are a discourse community.

What to do for next class.

Read: Branick: "Coaches can read and write, too" (sent to your kean email).
Write: Blog 2: group post discussing your findings about the essential features of shaggy dog stories.  Post your analysis (the names of the features in the four jokes), the essential features, and the variants.

Come to class prepared to give a presentation on your analysis of the shaggy dog stories where you identify their essential features + the variants - and give some examples (show your data in your blog post) to support these findings.

We will start class with your presentations.

Then you will do some more brainstorming to think about your research topic. 

We will spend the second part of class discussing Branick - and talking about ethnographic method.
 

9.10 part 1: Discourse analysis of shaggy dog stories

At the beginning of class I read over the list of who has turned in their NIH certificate - just so you knew I got them.  Training certificates are due by the beginning of next class.  If you have problems with the site - send me an email and we can work it out.

I will be writing feedback for Blog 1sometime between now and next class.  Meanwhile, you will be working on Blog 2 (group analysis of the shaggy dog stories) for your next post, due at the beginning of class 9.17.

Discourse.  After talking about blogs & the NIH certificates, we had a discussion about discourse.  The simple definition is language and use - which seems simple enough, but once we start thinking about the elements or components which shape how we use language -it gets pretty interesting.  In quick succession you identified 4 key features relevant to language in use:

the forms language takes

the identities, beliefs, values, everyday experiences of people who write/speak/enact it

the identities etc of people who make meanings (interpret/hear/read) it

the contexts (places) which surround and influence how language is used

 

Discourse analysis looks at these features: forms/users/audience/context - looks for relationships among them, uses those relationships to identify patterns => and then poses theories about how language "works" in terms of those theories, patterns and correlations. 

 

I pointed out that all of you are experts at discourse analysis - you make personal (local) theories about what it means when language is used in certain ways all the time.  You identify who will make a likely friend (and who to avoid), which teachers will teach their courses in ways that work for you, what people are interested in or "good" at = all by analyzing the ways they talk. It is not only what they say - but how they say it that you take in and analyze to come to your conclusions.

 

So you already know how to do discourse analysis - in an automatic, half conscious kind of way.  What we will do in this class is learn to identify the steps.  We will apply the language of analysis - naming, categorizing, looking for patterns & testing relationships & theories - to discourse.

General impressions of shaggy dog stories.
Before we did a formal analysis of a particular shaggy dog story (the florist friars story) we made a list of some general observations.  These were our "impressions" (the discourse analysis we did automatically - without naming, categorizing and formally writing out patterns).  Our list looked like this:
Features/impressions of what these joke/stories do

1. Joke (punchline) based on word play

• Used homonyms or rhymes
• Slight rearrangement to make nonsense meanings (words that sound the same)

2.   Readers need cultural knowledge to get the punchline

3. First part of the joke is an elaborate set up = to provide rationale for the punchline

 

Next, we did a detailed analysis of one joke, and this is the list of features we came up with.  An important thing to notice here is that we got the "big" features with our general impressions BUT that we got much more detail, and more ideas through a close, careful analysis where we named and counted things, and wrote them down. 

 

 

 

Features of Florist Friar joke

1.formal language

2. history – gives background for story => sets the scene

3. Words from the punchline appear early in the text

4. elements of the punch line are both put forward & held back

5. lots of storytelling details that are off the point

6. characterization for all characters (hugh = tough, why friars need money etc)

7. audience needs cultural knowledge to get the joke

8. Named character is Scottish – which sets up a meaning about?

9. language starts out with one meaning – takes a twist

10. goes in a direction you don’t expect

11. beginning, middle, end – flow => like story = well developed

12. rule of 3 plot development – similar to fary tales

13. Punchline has nothing to do with the story itself= the joke makes you construct a meaning that is ridiculous

14. characters talk to each other

 

This is a GREAT list - and it gave you a good place to start for the group work assignment.

 

I asked you to:

 

Group work:  Write a list of features of what makes a shaggy dog story a shaggy dog story.

To do this, you will need to:

1. Analyze all the jokes
2. Identify (name & list) their features
3. State which features all 4 jokes have in common.

 

This work set you up for your group blog post (Blog 3).

For this assignment you will do the following.

 

Blog 2:  (group post discussing your findings about the essential features of shaggy dog stories).  Post your analysis (the names of the features in the four jokes), the essential features, and the variants. 

With your group, be prepared to present your findings regarding the essential features and variants of shaggy dog stories at the beginning of next class.

 

The discussion of discourse communities will be posted at 9.10 Part 2 (I'm still working on it), along with your assignments for next class.

 

The assigned reading, the ethnography about football coaches, will be sent to your kean email this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

9.3 Reflections on class and what we will be doing on 9.10

This is the second post on our first class (scroll down for the detailed discussion of what we did - the overview of analysis sums up the language we developed).

Reflections on group work:  When I asked what you got out of your experience working on the puzzle, you pointed out how it was exhausting, frustrating and confusing (not your exact words - I think you said something like messing with your minds) = so that is how it felt.  It was challenging - and those feelings of wanting to give up and not knowing what to do are the way it feels when you are in the steep part of the learning curve.  So you were all in the right place. 

Your second observation was that you worked longer, got more ideas, we less frustrated and more engaged because you were working with a group.  And this is true, too.  And it is REALLY important for our class. 

You are going to take on new concepts (ideas with "words" that aren't going to mean anything for a while).  What is more, because this is a research class - which means you have to "do" a project, you will find yourself in a position where you need to use/do things with the "words" that you don't yet fully understand = and it is going to feel a lot like trying to solve that puzzle.   Hang in and work with your classmates!   You will get it if you go the distance.  Just like you did with the puzzle.  I will be there to give hints and support you - but the time you spend wandering around in those new (frustrating) concepts is the prize you will take with you.  It is the place where real learning takes place.

What we are doing next class
I will start by introducing you to "discourse analysis" = one of the methods central to writing studies research.  The funny thing is that ALL of you are expert discourse analysts already - you do it every day - but as with the analytic process that we described on last class, you don't have the language to talk about it, and you haven't really slowed it down and named what you do.

I am guessing you know the meaning of the word language (the system of communications - including words, meanings, sounds, and grammars/rules which when taken together create the understandings through which humans communicate).  Check out some of the definitions on the internet.

Class will start with a discussion of discourse.

Discourse is language in use.  This is the definition, though it probably isn't going to make a lot of sense until we talk about it, so just try to go with that for a while.  Discourse includes the (often unconscious or unnoticed) assumptions we make in order to meaning; if you think about it, the ways we use language allows us to say things (communicate meanings), to "make" things, and to "be" things.  We will talk about this more in class

One feature of a discourse community (as in the essay by Swales) is that community members have the same set of assumptions about how to make meanings with language (how to use language).  They also have many of the same identities and values that are associated with the ways they use language. 

After the introductory talk about discourse - we will talk about discourse analysis = identifying, naming, grouping (categorizing), looking for patterns, and making and testing theories about the ways language is used. 

Then you are going to DO some discourse analysis on the shaggy dog stories.  Trust me - doing discourse analysis is probably going to be easier for you than getting your head around all the new language to DESCRIBE what you are doing.  That's because - as set up at the beginning - you already know how to do discourse analysis.  What you are learning in this class, is to slow it down and name what you are doing so someone else can follow your thinking, step by step.

Have a great weekend and see you on Tuesday.

9.3 Introductions and ANALYSIS!

You are an awesome class!   Thank you so much for your good participation. 

We spent the first part of class with introductions and talking in a general way about what kinds of writing studies projects might relate to your interests and fields of study.  We have a great mix of education and writing studies majors - and from the ideas you put out there for what you'd like to study I think there will be ways for each of you to do research projects on topics you are genuinely interested in. 

Syllabus & Calendar.  We didn't spend a lot of time on the Syllabus.  Make sure to read through the course policies and we will start class with questions if there are points you are unsure about.  I drew your attention to the points for grading, and pointed out that my cut offs for grades are 90/80/70   with above 90 = A, 90 = A-. and 89 = B+ and etc.

As part of this discussion (and as in the last blog post), I pointed out that the calendar gives the overview for where the course is going, but that to keep up to date with what we are actually doing in class - you need to check this blog after every class for a review of what we did, and an update of what we will be doing. 

Attendance: I also pointed out that I take attendance with the sign-in book.  It is your responsibility to sign in.  At 4:30 I draw a line under the last signature and if you sign in after you are tardy (see attendance/tardy policies in syllabus).  I realize that you have complicated lives and that sometimes you will be late; if any of you have commitments/responsibilities that are going to make it difficult to get to class - talk to me so that I can take your circumstances into consideration.
 
Analysis: Slowing it down + naming what we do as we think.
During the second pat of class we worked on analysis.  We started out by making a list of some of the words you used to describe what you do when you do analysis.  These are all good general descriptions for analysis. Our work this evening was to pay close attention to our thinking processes so we could name the different steps we took as we engaged in analytic process. 
You worked in groups to solve a particular "brain teaser." I asked you to pay attention to, and to name the different moves you made as you tried to solve the puzzle = and you did. After each group had worked their way through to an answer (awesome) we made a list of the moves you wrote down as you worked. We then grouped the moves into categories, and the list below is a summary of what you noticed yourselves doing.
 
Analytic process for solving the puzzle.
 1. DEFINE the problem/question you are solving (identify the problem/question)
This step included ORIENTING to the data (deciding the perspective or focus for your analysis).  In this case  - looking at the picture with the question right side up, and reading right to left, and down the page, was the easiest orientation.
  
Idenfity and name what counts as DATA (information relevant to your problem/question) = in this problem relevant data were features of the shapes, as well as information about their sequence.  This is part of the next step. 

2. Name = noticing the FEATURES in your data that are significant to your problem

 

You notice that there were different shapes

That some of the shapes were oriented differently

That the shapes were different colors

 

Before you could talk in your group about patterns or how the problem worked you needed to NAME the features of your data

 

3. CATEGORIZE= put data with similar FEATURES  into groups

Categories

= groups of things with shared features

This was a beginning step for looking for a patterns

It sometimes included counting the members of a category (how many of each kind of shape/color/orientation) and it sometimes included noticing local groups or clusters (like the groups of two symbols of the same kind)

Looking at a local group (just part of the problem) is called BRACKETING = like putting [around part of the problem] so you can concentrate on a smaller, more manageable piece of data 

 

4. Look for patterns

 In this step you used the names and groups as ways to talk about repetitions or cycles

You identified lots of different local patterns = which shapes ALWAYS went together, or the order in which shapes followed one another. 

To develop different patterns - your looked at the puzzle from different ORIENTATIONS, and you also BRACKETED off sections so you could just look at part of the puzzle at a time

 

5. Pose local theories

Once you noticed a pattern in color, or sequence, or grouping  - you formed an idea of what that pattern might look like if it were true for the whole puzzle.  The idea of what a pattern would look like when it applies to ALL your data is a theory. 

 

Theories often are connected to patterns that you already know.  For example, because the shapes were similar to shapes from playing cards, many of you HYPOTHESIZED (posed a theory) that this puzzle might have something to do with a card game, or the organization of the playing cards (good guess!) 

 

Others noticed that there was a black shape in every row but the last one, and guessed the club (which is the right answer) => but the wrong reason.  There is also a diamond in every row but the last one => the REAL answer is about the sequence of the shapes (a  BIG theory).

 

6. Test your theories!

 Once you had a local theory (about two shapes always following each other, or being above each other, or about the color distribution) you tested your theory by checking to see if the pattern you identified applied to the WHOLE puzzle. 

If the theory didn't FIT (explain what you could see) and WORK (allow you to generate or extend the data further by predicting the pattern) - you decided the theory was wrong - and cycled back through the steps - re-thinking the names and groupings and patterns that you had already tried. You might even need to go back and re-define the problem.

 

7. Use local theory to pose BIG theory (to explain the whole system)

Once you found a theory that seemed to fit and work for part of the puzzle - the next step is to see if you can use your theory to predict what would happen in new situations.  For this puzzle - the correct answer allows you to name the right "shape" at any point in the series.

 

Reflections on our work together:  In addition to observing these steps (and writing them down -good work!), we noticed that this process was not linear. As we pointed out at the beginning of the exercise - thinking is messy, it doesn't go in a straight line. You cycled through these processes, sometimes jumping from one to another. For example, you might have posed a local theory, found that it didn't "work" and then gone back to identifying features to figure out why the theory didn't work. This new consideration of features then might lead you to different categories. And so on.

 

As explained in class, the purpose of doing this exercise was for us to analyze(!) analytic process =>

• to identify and name the "features" of analytic process,
• to put those features into categories,
• and to pose a theory about relationships among those categories that can "explain" how analysis works. 

 

And that's what we did.

 

WHY SLOWING DOWN AND NAMING ANALYTIC PROCESS IS IMPORTANT.

1. Researchers need names and categories to communicate about analysis so that they can share their thinking/analyses to others.  This is important both in talking and in writing.  This exercise drew your attention to some of the names researchers use as they talk about analysis (DATA, NAMING, FEATURES, CATEGORIZING, LOCAL THEORY, FIT & WORK, etc).  

 

2. Awareness of research process allows us to "prove" our answers.  Without conscious awareness of how to do analysis, we tend to fall back on "intuitive" patterns for thinking.  These ways of thinking  are generally "quick & dirty" = meaning they give you a rapid insight with a usable answer. This thinking takes place rapidly - and you often don't know how you got your answer - so you won't be able to "prove" it.

 

3. Complex research problems/questions can feel overwhelming if you do not consciously "know the moves" to work through analysis.  Because our analytic process is mostly "automatic" - when we are faced with a problem we aren't familiar with, or a question that has many, many different ways to think about answers - our automatic approaches don't have something familiar (from our experience) to latch onto.

 

We spent some time at the very end of class applying the analytic process to a question about communication dynamics in class.  By naming what we remembered as happening in class (Naming) and observing patterns (noticing what happens when teachers and students talk in certain ways)  - we were on our way to pose theories about how teachers might improve (or at least do something different) talk in the classroom.

 

For next class:

Work on the NIH training - send an image of your certificate to the course email on or before Sept 17.
Read: Data Set 1: Shaggy Dog Stories + Swales (links to these texts are on the right of this blog)

Blog 1:  Do some writing about what kind of writing studies research you are interested in working on. 

 

If you have questions - send me an email!
 

 

 

9.3.13 First day of class

Welcome to ENG 3029!

As you can see, I have left the posts and the blogs from last term.  If you like - you can look through them to get a feel for how the class will go. 

As it says on the syllabus (posted under course documents to the right), we will use this blog as a kind of "hub" for course communications.  After each class I will post an update of what we did - and the assignment for what to do for the next class. To do well in this class - you will want to check the blog after every class. If it is more than 24 hours after class and I have not yet posted the update - I am hoping one of you will do me the favor of sending me a reminder!  I am very human and I will make mistakes.  One advantage of a blog is that it can be more interactive.  That can work to all of our advantages if we work together. 

So we will see how this goes. . . .