Research Report on Issue of Professional Interest- Using Observations, Interviews, and Published Resources

Purpose
This assignment has three main goals. First, gathering research from a variety of sources will help you to find credible information and evidence (which will serve as support for the change you will argue for if you choose to do the proposal option). Second, you will gain practice in collecting primary source research through close observation and interviewing of a co-worker or professional in your field. Third, through searching for secondary source research, such as academic journals and online databases, you will gain experience finding, presenting, and citing secondary source research in your writing.

Directions

1. Read Anderson's chapter 6 "Conducting Reader-Centered Research" (pages 151-164) and the "Writer's Reference Guide to Using Reader-Centered Research Methods" (pages 165-196). This chapter discusses practical strategies for gathering all of the research required in this assignment.
   
   Read Burnett's "Locating and Recording Information" (available as a PDF by clicking here). Burnett offers numerous helpful strategies for collecting information.
   
   
2. Write up a series of questions and interview at least one co-worker or professional from your field
   Using the guidelines from pages 185-190 in Anderson and Burnett pages 172-176, write a short set of questions to use in interviewing at least one co-worker or professional from your field about your issue. Be sure that you write/ask your questions in an open-ended way so that your respondent(s) can answer in more depth than simply giving you a yes or no answer. You will need to write up your questions and answers about what you discovered from this interview to be turned in prior to the draft of your Report. You'll also need to include your list of questions in an appendix at the end of your report.
   
   
3. Conduct a short observation in your workplace
   Using what you learned from the Express Line Assignment and reading, as wells as the advice from Burnett on pages 168-170, conduct a short observation in your workplace. Concentrate directly on activities, interactions, and details that will help you to you better understand your issue and to more persuasively argue for change in your proposal. Try to record specific examples or details that will illustrate your observations. Remember that when you are writing up your observation that it is critical to identify any biases that may influence your views and to identify the context of what you saw for your readers. You will need to write up your observation to be turned in prior to the draft report and you should include some of what you learned through this experience in your report.
   
   
4. Find and analyze at least two published article relevant to your issue
   Using professional publications from your field and the databases available to you through the library or your workplace, locate at least two academic articles relevant to the issue you have selected. Anderson discusses text-based research methods on pages 172-185. Since you will be using this work to better understand your issue and possible to support your argument in your proposal, you should try to find sources that take as diverse perspectives as possible so you will be aware of all the sub-issues you'll need to address. Use the bibliographies of useful articles as leads for finding additional sources if you are stuck on where to start.
   
   
5. Write a draft report
   Your five page/1250 word (minimum) report should identify and discuss the perspectives on the issue you found through your research. You should focus on explaining what the multiple perspectives related to your issue are about and how their proponents argue for them. Beyond helping you to investigate your issue, this work will prepare you to provide convincing support for the value of the change you will suggest in your proposal.
   
   • Report structure
     You should use the following format, as discussed by Anderson in Chapter 21, to present your findings:
     • Introduction- What issue are you addressing and what will readers gain from reading your report?
       
       
     • Method of Obtaining Facts - Using a subheading to separate them, discuss each method you used for gathering information.
       
       
     • Facts-What did you find out through your research?
       
       
     • Discussion and Conclusion- What does the material you gathered mean? Why is it credible or believable? Why is it significant or important?
       
       
     • Recommendations- Based on your research findings, what course of action should be taken?
       
       
     • References- You must include a list of references used at the end of your paper. It should be formatted in either APA or MLA style as outlined in Appendix A of Anderson (for additional help with these styles, check out http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/index.html).
       
       
     • Appendix- Include your interview questions and any other relevant material.
       
       
6. Give feedback and suggestions to assigned classmate's Research Report
   Looking at the WebCT Discussion thread for "Research Reports", read and provide thoughtful, in-depth feedback for your assigned classmate's report using the reply feature. Your comments should be equivalent to at least two paragraphs in length, though you may choose to format it in a different way (such as a bulleted list). In providing comments, I would like you to address the following criteria:
   
   • Does the overall report make sense? If not, where and how does it need to be made clearer?
     
     
   • Is the structure of the report appropriate? Did the writer use the format outlined in the assignment directions?
     
     
   • Do the sources used provide useful evidence that help to provide insight for the issue? If not, what else do you need to know? What suggestions to you have for where to find this information?
     
     
   • What other specific feedback do you have for this author for how to improve this report?
   
   
   
7. Revise Research Report
   Addressing the commentary and suggestions given by me and your classmate, revise and polish your Research Report.

The seven steps of this assignment are worth a combined 30% of your final grade.