Response Ann and Kathy: Chapter 5

The use of interviews and surveys are vital to qualitative research when it comes to writing issues. The chapter, "How Do I Find Answers," provides a plethora of strategies and advice for the serious researcher. The information about personality types and making smart interview choices is a great starting point for a potential researcher: "Interviews provide information both about the person being interviewed and from that person's perspective. They provide insight into the person's thoughts, perceptions, feelings, motivations, responses, and actions in relation to the issues or situations being explored in the research" (Blakeslee, Fleisher). On top of that, the chapter discusses in depth the many situations that these methods might be critical to the research project.

In terms of my writing center project, the info about spontaneous interviews really captured my attention. Writing centers are pretty much an informal, spontaneous venue for students and tutors to discuss writing-related issues. Chapter 5 states that, "For example, you might observe something of note in your research setting and so engage oneof your participants in conversation about it." This applies nicely to the general environment of writing centers. The success if Informal interviews, as described in the chapter, depends very much on the researcher's use of interpersonal communication skills. This is something I will need focus on due to my own, self-acknowledged, mood shifts. Really analyzing my own psychological idyosyncracies is crucial not only to producing useful field work on the Master's level, but the overall quality of the project in general.

Further info about interview subjects, organization, timing, and documenting interviews are touched on in depth, providing valuable, practical advice that will be useful down the road. A next step would to be wading through this extensive text and deciding which suggestions should be embraced as I make decisions about methodologies for my project.

Research Observation

I used chapter four as the template for observational skills, especially the data concerning the physical set-up, personal interactions,and conversational snippets. My subject was a coney island restaurant in "inner city" Detroit, on Grand River Ave. I used the Blakeslee and Fleisher's suggestions from chapter four to guide this practice exercise:"many researchers carry out observations early in the research process as a way of familiarizing themselves with a setting to see what might be interesting in it."

My observations were fundimental and simplistic, but provided me with a broad overview of this site which may be helpful for furthering my research project:

Although it is lunchtime during the work week, the restaurant is fairly slow for 12:30 p.m. There are two middle-aged men (one Afr-Amer, one White) playing chesson the far side of the room. They are laughing and kidding each other, apparently having a good time.

One Afr-Amer male employee, sitting in a booth eating, rushes over to help another female employee change the garbage containers.

The main sound in the room comes from a television hanging from the ceiling directly in back of me.

The employees are a mix of young Afr-Amer men and women, and young men of indeterminate nationality (I think Eastern European). I get the feeling that some of them either own the establishment, or are aquainted with the owner.

The restaurant seems recently remodled with new tile floors, walls, and new booths.

Suddenly, "Hey-hey - what's happening?" (AA gent with work-type folder)
"Long time, no see." (female worker sweeping the floor)

This hints at a community-oriented business that interacts with a variety of people on a daily basis. Because of the rough neighborhood, this community feelseems to be consciously fostered by the ownership.

Issues With My Topic! #$%#%&*&(^%@%$^&:=)

Aside from not posting a blog message on a regular basis, I'm finding it difficult to get pumped and geeked about my impending grad project. It is really hard to describe my uncertainty and anxiety about this situation, but I have a feeling that it has a lot to do with the process of diving, somewhat reluctantly, into a multi-dimentional, "professional," project, balancing and interpreting many different social, mental, academic, and intellectial perspectives.

I have been involved with writing centers since my return to college in 1998. I have participated in many discourses concerning writing center operation, policy, and politics, but I now fear that my interest has waning. I still think W.C.s are viable laboratories for understanding literacy and the process of written communication, but I'm having sort of an existential (I noticed the word "empirical" in the dictionary definition of existential - Huh?!?) about my choice of subject. First off, I think my initial premise in studying writing center environments is kind of dumb and pointless. This belongs in the rhelm of people who design and construct actually spaces, not those who are supposed to be analyzing text within a specific situation. I have many interests and curiosities, but I need to make the right choice at this point in the research process to ultimately be successful and insightful in whatever I decide to do to gain that Master's Degree.

What to do, what to do, what to doo-doo?!?

Intersting Findings: "The Writing Center Journal"

After exploring the Halle collection (without success) for print versions of my journal of choice for the review assignment, I decided to search the Web for a link to this publication. Fortunately, there is a whole site dedicated to the WCJ. However, the choice of issues available with full text are limited to those published before the year 2000. For my assignment, I've decided to download three of these issues, along with the available Table of Contents for the most recent issues. Overall, there is a wealth of helpful descriptive information, along with intruiguing and relevant scholarly articles on a variety of writing center topics that could be of use to my project.

I will be combining much of this material in a wide-ranging analysis of The Writing Center Journal, including an observation of the way perspectives have changed about the roles of writing centers since the turn of the 21st century. The concern about computer technology and its influence on tutor/student interaction dominated the discourse in these earlier issues, but the neccessity of face-to-face tutoring was, and is, reagarded as an indispensible aspect of writing center philosophy. I plan on subscibing to this journal for the duration of my research as I feel it will be key to staying in touch with current, vital thinking on the subject of writing centers.