Christian Kowalski

Context:

Undergraduate research presents the opportunity for students to thoroughly and critically engage with literature, studies and experiments that provide insight into topics across the curriculum. Dr. Barbara Gordon, an Associate Professor of English accepted my proposal to act as her research assistant as she mentored my personal undergraduate research. I started my research in June 2015 interested in comparing multimodality and traditional, word-based assignments within the context of first year classes. That research topic involved measuring the perceptions of value Elon students have for assignments that are multimodal and those that are traditionally word based.

 

The research is titled “Measuring perceptions of value in first-year writing classes”. The purpose of the research is to study whether first year students value multimodal assignments or traditional, word based assignments in class. This research was influenced by the studies conducted on the rise of multimodality in higher academia. Professors and researchers are incorporating new technological mediums into course rubrics giving students additional skills beyond traditional writing.

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Rhetorical Decisions:

This research helped expand upon my writing, design and technological skills. Writing for research has challenged me synthesize and analyze the results in an effective and coherent manner. My studies within the English department have in particular equipped me with the skills to dissect information and pinpoint connections from which to build interesting discussions from. Research has benefitted my critical and analytical thinking skills when dealing independently and much data.

 

When approaching Dedoose, both Dr. Gordon and I were unfamiliar with the software and so had to reevaluate our approach. We structured our analysis by first reading over the results from the survey as thoroughly as possible. We viewed the results from both the perspective of the individual surveys and all the questions organized with their same responses. Both perspectives allowed us to trace themes in the data and create a codebook.

 

The codebook functioned as the brain for our data. Each question would correspond with a set of parent and child codes that would help analyze the qualitative data. This required us to look closely at the outcomes for each question and carefully choose statements that accurately reflected the intended goals. The codebook would help channel and pull excerpts from the data and give it meaning within the context of the analysis. This codebook streamlined the process and helped us organize and critically analyze the data so that the excerpts could be fully maximized.

 

Beyond the growth from our collaborative efforts, my undergraduate research has strengthened my critical thinking and technical skills. The revision process for the survey went through 9 or 10 edits until both of us were absolutely sure it met our expectations. The smallest of word choices were considered when composing that document. We had to take into careful consideration how clear the instructions would be for students and if any other issues would arise preventing the best results. It was important to adapt our survey to college students who are aware of “survey fatigue” and all the other predicaments surrounding the research method. This project allowed me to be keenly aware and apply critical thinking towards these revisions. Revision went beyond general editing, I had to think critically about the ethos of the document. This would be a document sent around campus and act as the backbone for my results and analysis. Every portion of my research had to represent the credibility of both myself and Dr. Gordon.

 

Reflection:

By working alongside Dr. Gordon, I have been able to grow as a writer and critical thinker. From her perspective, I shared my insights with the current writing practices of Elon students along with valuable insight for our data. Our positions and roles within the research allowed us to create an effective model for understanding perceptions of value within first year writing.

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At the top of the you'll find the link to the survey PDF.