ASSESSING YOUR
INVESTIGATIVE
“KNOW-HOW” (a Pre-Test)v.2
Use of the term "Pre-Test" should need no explanation for the people in a Senior Seminar, right?
aggregate terminology list (ongoing)
In Advance:
In-Class- Part
1:
1. You & your groupmate(s) will select one of the following Areas-of-Curiosity to work with for all steps in this activity.
| a. Gov. Murphy of NJ & the now former NY governor, Andrew Cuomo both saw increases in their performance approval scores starting in mid 2020. Some analysts have speculated that this was influenced by viewers' perceptions of the men's respective nonverbal dynamics-- especiallyduring their regular media update appearances. What's up with that? I wonder... |
| b. The interpretations of semiotics seem to be very changeable, culturally-sensitive, and subject to the morés of a particular era. In the past year or so, we've seen shifts in the attitudes toward several longstanding monuments and traditional practices of artistic imagery. Some observers advocate interpreting artifacts within their original contexts. Others believe interpretations should be based in our newer, more enlightened perspectives. What's closer to reality: intention or impact? |
| c. The current prevalence of "Zoom"-style meetings has helped reinforce our awareness that listening is EXTREMELY important and EXTREMELY difficult. So maybe the slogan from NCA (National Communication Association) really is true: "Meaning lies in the Ear of the receiver". Are we learning these lessons in any kind of sustainable way, or are we likely to revert to poor listening habits as we eventuallly return to having more face-to-face communication [F2F] ? |
| d. Interpersonal behavior patterns in the United States already were on the "low contact" & "low context" side of the scale before the imposition of the social distancing brought on by the 2020 pandemic. So theoretically the imposition of public spacing into personal contexts (remember E.T. Hall's zones)would have been less disruptive in the U.S. than in closer cultures/countries such as China or India, or even Italy & Spain. So why have we been complaining so much about social distancing? |
| e. Despite the fact that the word is often used with a negative connection, Rhetoric & its canons are with us all the time, both in our written & oral communication. In Dec, 2020, I heard a public health official being interviewed about strategies for controlling the spread of COVID-19. The interviewee asserted that, rather than using the common term "HERD IMMUNITY", a better, more collectivistic strategy for influencing the general population to participate in anti-coronavirus vaccinations, would be by using the term "HIVE IMMUNITY". Similarly, at a conference last year, I heard someone suggest the the vaccination initiatives would be more likely to succeed if the language in the PSA's was strategic about acknowledging the need for individual action for a collective situation. Don't these strategies represent the use of rhetoric in its most classic form? |
2. A "private" sub-channel has been set up for you in Teams (look for your names). You & your partners will confer in order to come up with answers to these 6 question-categories below as they pertain to your designated topic/area. Some class time will be allotted but also continue with your work outside of class times, as necessary. The comprehensiveness & accuracy of your answers will help me determine your level of investigative "know-how".
The groups' "debriefs" will be primarily oral & in class on 1/31/22, but your more detailed summary document should be placed in the "Files" folder in your subchannel by 2/2/22.
Items to be explained/discussed/ applied as you plan a research project based on your topic:
1. RED FLAGS: If designing a research project on your area / topic, what are 3-4 inherent Challenges that you anticipate for the researcher {examples include: Ethics' breach / Researcher bias / sampling instability / internal validity / external validity[reliability] / null hypothesis / IRB violations / etc. etc }
2. LENSES & THEIR LIMITS-I: If you were to use a qualitative approach to this research project, what sort of insights/findings might you be able to learn? What things will that approach NOT be able to tell you? Name at least one item for each category. Explain all terms.
3. LENSES & THEIR LIMITS-II: If you were to use a quantitative approach to this research project, what sort of insights/findings might you be able to learn? What things will that approach NOT be able to tell you? Name at least one item for each category. Explain all terms.
4. METHODOLOGIES: What specific research method would you use? If 5-10 years went by & you wanted to create REPLICATE that original study’s findings? What method then? What if you wanted to TRIANGULATE your study/s findings? What method then? (Be sure you understand & can explain these research terms.)
5. EPISTEMOLOGIES: This is a Research senior seminar so of course the premise is to apply FWOK [Formal Ways Of Knowing] ; however can EWOK [ Everyday Ways Of Knowing] provide any useful insights on your area/topic?
6. RESEARCH-AS-ARGUMENT: What research design do you propose for actually conducting an investigative study in this area? Would you build your study around a HYPOTHESIS or a RESEARCH QUESTION? - Why? How do you know when to use which? Specifically cite your planned: PARADIGM{D/C/I/} | METHODOLOGY | DATA | DATA COLLECTION | SAMPLING |_____________ | Demonstrate how you would use the basic Toulmin structure of argumentation [ c-d-w]
| Essential Terminology [ be sure you know how to use the language of scholarship] | |
| sampling: purposive, random, snowball | Areas-of-Curiosity |
| ethics - bias | validity & reliability(generalizability) |
| quantitative | positivist | qualitative |
| epistemology | replication |
| triangulation | data ( or is it "data"?) |
| paradigms [Disc|Crit|Interp] | Claim-Data-Warrant |
| Methodology | Hypothesis | Research Question |
WORKSHEET: Essential Investigative/Research Know-How -
How much do you know about "Research Culture????
{There’s no
problem with not knowing the answer. What’s important is asking the right
question in order to find out.
[rough
paraphrase of David Maiullo, physics support specialist-That Physics Show][
& MANY] similar quotes exist among all sorts of
investigators & researchers]
►
a.RED
FLAGS:
b. LENSES & THEIR LIMITS-I:
c. LENSES &
THEIR LIMITS-II:
d. METHODOLOGIES:
e. EPISTEMOLOGIES:
f. RESEARCH-AS-ARGUMENT:
SECTION UPDATED 1/24/22
ORAL ASSIGNMENT: In class on 1/31/22, each team will have about 7-10 minutes to EXPLAIN/DISCUSS their answer to one of the worksheet topic areas as assigned below. These presentations should include clarifications of all key terms involved.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: Each team has until 2/2/22-11:59pm to write up a BRIEF [ i.e. 2-3 sentences per category] summary of the oral content- in case we run out of time for questions. (should split the task 2-3 ways). Remember, you can copy & paste the original questions from this online document.
-- Re: Item B: SEMIOTICS IN PUBLIC IMAGERY___________________- Christina & Kyle
--Re:
Item C: LOCKDOWN LISTENING_________________________ -
Declan & Jack &
Marisa
--Re: Item D: SPACE & DISTANCING DIFFICULTIES _______________- Ben & Eden & Sebastian
--Re: Item A: NONVERBAL PERSONAL STYLES__________________ - Andrew & Alex & Natalia
--Re: Item E: RHETORIC:HIVE/HERD-INDIV/COLLC _______________– __________ & ____________ & _____________
Spare topic, if needed: In addition, factors during the pandemic have increased everyone's awareness of the cultural values of individualism vs. the collectivism cultural practices of human behavior are being seen in different, more complex ways.