Data Analysis [dat]
Purpose
After you have collected data from your field research, you will want to determine what you have learned, and more specifically, how the data answers your research questions.
The Data Analysis gives you the opportunity to look through your data and draw conclusions.
Instructions–Writing
In one to two single-spaced pages, you will summarize the results of your field research and explain the conclusions that you draw from them.
What happened Briefly describe what happened during the course of your research. Were you able to conduct the research as you had planned? If not, what changes did you have to make and how do you think this affected the outcome of your research?
Report and summarize your results You will want to report your results in a concise fashion from which your audience can quickly glean the details. Consider strategies such as lists, tables, images (e.g., pie charts, line graphs). In other words, do not report every single detail that you collected from your field research. Choose what details are relevant and need to be highlighted. But also understand that by making these decisions, you are influencing how your audience understands the context/practices you studied.
Draw Conclusions What did you learn from your field research? What is the relevancy of all of this information? At this point you want to return to your research questions and use the data you have collected to answer them. If you feel that your methods were flawed and did not yield usable results, this is your opportunity to discuss that issue. False starts are often part of the research process and will not be counted against your final grade if you can intelligently reflect upon the situation.
Realize that your research questions places a specific filter over this data and that another person looking at these results with their own interests might draw other conclusions. Therefore you should also acknowledge how your biases might be influencing your conclusions.
Make Connections How do your results relate to what you have read about literacy contexts/practices for the class readings or the Progressive Annotated Bibliography? This will help you think about how your research fits into a much larger conversation about literacy.
What Next? Briefly plan what you will do next. What do you think will be the best way to write up this information for a particular audience?
When you compose this document, use block paragraphs, create hierarchies (use headings, subheadings, and so on), bulleted lists and images when appropriate.
Instructions–Portfolio
You do not need to revise this document for the portfolio. Instead, you will reflect upon what you actually did; in your Rhetorical Statement, you will explain how the results informed the rest of your work.
Criteria
The first draft of the Project Proposal is due March 24, 2005.
An evaluated copy of the Project Proposal is due with the Portfolio on April 26, 2005.
The first draft will be evaluated as part of your participation grade and will receive two grades for content and convention. The final submission will be part of the portfolio grade.
In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...
- a sense of audience–will your audience be able to understand what you have learned from your field research
- your understanding of your research. Do you have a reasonable sense of the success of your research?
- your understanding of your results and how they address your research questions
- your understanding of your own biases
- your understanding of how your field research results relates to the larger discussion about literacy
- an ability to articulate your knowledge of the course content
- appropriate use of conventions, including MLA or APA citation formatting
last.updated 01.11.05