Kolaborasi Ilmu Melalui Kajian Tindakan & Inovasi dalam P&P

Instrumen Kajian
Sample Research Instruments
Supplementary Materials for LSI 580 Evaluation and Research Department of Library Science and Instructional Technology Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven CT

Menentukan Fokus Kajian Tindakan

Penentuan Fokus Kajian Tindakan
Apakah isu-isu yang sesuai untuk dijadikan fokus sesuatu kajian tindakan ?
 penggunaan bahan-bahan pelajaran
 penggunaan strategi, kaedah dan teknik mengajar
 pengurusan aktiviti kumpulan
 perancangan aktiviti pemulihan dan pengayaan
 penyediaan lembaran kerja dan penilaian
 pengurusan bilik darjah atau
 masalah displin

Contoh: Melengkapkan Penyataan/Mencari Jawapan Terhadap Refleksi Yang Dibuat

 Saya ingin memperbaiki……………
 Ada orang (murid/ibubapa/guru lain) yg tidak puas hati
dengan….apakah yang dapat dilakukan bagi mengubah keadaan ini?
 Saya kagum dengan…………bolehkah saya melakukan sedemikian?
 Saya ada sesuatu idea tentang………. yang ingin saya cuba
 Bagaimanakah pengalaman ………… dapat diaplikasikan?

Memilih Fokus Kajian Tindakan

 Jangan pilih sesuatu yang memerlukan tindakan susulan yang tidak
dapat dibuat atau yang diluar bidang kuasa anda.
 Pilih sesuatu topik atau isu yang berhubungkait dengan bidang kuasa
anda.
 Sebagai permulaan, pilih satu skop kecil yang mudah dikendalikan.

Contoh-Contoh Cara Menjelaskan Fokus Kajian Tindakan
Contoh 1
“Pelajar-pelajar kelas saya tidak dapat menumpukan perhatian penuh semasa pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Bagaimanakah saya dapat memperbaiki situasi ini?”

Kenalpasti persoalan focus kajian
 Pelajar-pelajar manakah yang tidak menumpukan perhatian?
 Apakah yang dilakukan oleh pelajar-pelajar tersebut?
 Adakah pelajar-pelajar tersebut terlibat dalam aktiviti
pembelajaran ataupun perkara yang tidak bersangkut paut dengan
pelajaran tersebut?
 Adakah mereka faham apa yang disampaikan?
 Apakah tugasan-tugasan yang boleh melibatkan pelajar-pelajar dalam
pemikiran dan dapat menumpukan perhatian sepanjang sesi pengajaran
dan pembelajaran?

Contoh 2
“Murid-murid kelas saya sangat bising semasa aktiviti kumpulan kecil. Bagaimanakah saya dapat memperbaiki situasi ini?”

Kenalpasti persoalan focus kajian
 Murid-murid manakah yang membuat bising?
 Apakah yang dilakukan oleh murid-murid tersebut yang menjadikan
keadaan bilik darjah bising?
 Adakah murid-murid tersebut terlibat dalam aktiviti pembelajaran
ataupun perkara yang tidak bersangkut paut dengan pelajaran
tersebut?
 Adakah keadaan bising itu mengganggu pelajaran?
 Apakah tugasan-tugasan yang boleh melibatkan murid-murid dalam
pemikiran dan kurang dalam perbualan?

Refleksi Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran

Refleksi Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran
Refleksi dalam konteks pembelajaran adalah satu istilah umum, merujuk kepada aktiviti-aktiviti intelektual dan afektif, di mana seseorang individu melibatkan diri meneroka pengalaman-pengalaman mereka bagi memperoleh kefahaman dan penghayatan baru. Reflek merupakan satu aktiviti penting untuk seorang guru atau pendidik dalam mengingat kembali pengalaman yang telah dilalui semasa sesi pengajaran dan pembelajaran dan mempertimbangkan serta membuat sesuatu penilaian berdasarkan persoalan-persoalan apa, siapa, dimana, kenapa, mengapa dan bagaimana. Hasil dari refleksi yang dibuat akan tercetus kefahaman baru, kesedaran, keinsafan, perubahan persepsi dan perubahan amalan.

Contoh Persoalan Yang Timbul Semasa Refleksi
 Apakah masalah dalam kelas saya?
 Siapa yang menyebabkan masalah tersebut, guru atau murid?
 Dimana punca masalah itu timbul?
 Kenapa berlaku demikian?
 Bagaimanakah masalah itu boleh ditangani?
 Apakah strategi yang perlu digunakan? dan bagaimana?
 Mengapa saya perlu berubah cara pengajaran saya?
 Bagaimanakah menilai keberkesanan strategi saya?

Tujuan Refleksi Pengajaran Dan Pembelajaran
 Menilai kemahiran mengajar atau amalan sendiri dan mempertimbangkannya.
 Menilai sesuatu strategi pengajaran dan bahan-bahan pengajaran atau intervensi yang digunakan.
 Menganalis nilai-nilai pendidikan yang menjadi asas amalan pengajaran.
 Terus menerus mengkaji dan menjelaskan pengangan dan nilai peribadi berkaitan dengan pendidikan.

Kepentingan Kajian Tindakan Kepada Para Pendidik

Kepentingan Kajian Tindakan Kepada Para Pendidik
 Sebagai sumber maklumat penting untuk memahami amalan pengajaran guru, amalan pembelajaran murid, keadaan murid, suasana bilik darjah.
 Merancang huraian mata pelajaran dengan lebih berkesan.
 Dapat mempelbagaikan kaedah pengajaran dan pembelajaran.
 Memudahkan pencapaian objektif dapat memahami, mengubah dan membaiki amalan pengajaran dan pembelajaran.
 Meningkatkan penggunaan bahan dan membentuk jalinan kerja yang lebih aktif dan berkesan.
 Dapat menyediakan guru menjadi penyelidik yang kritikal, kaya dengan idea baru, sanggup menerima perubahan dan berupaya membuat penilaian terhadap kurikulum dan kokurikulum.
 Membuat budaya penyelidikan sebagai asas dalam membuat sebarang perancangan untuk tindakan.
 Merapatkan hubungan di kalangan guru yang terbabit melalui kerjasama secara kolaboratif.

RERENCE LIST: ELECTRONIC SOURCES

REFERENCE LIST: ELECTRONIC SOURCES

Article From an Online Periodical

Note: In 2007, the APA released several additions/modifications for documentation of electronic sources in the APA Style Guide to Electronic References. These changes are reflected in the entries below. Please note that there are no spaces used with brackets in APA.

Online articles follow the same guidelines for printed articles. Include all information the online host makes available, including an issue number in parentheses. Provide a retrieval date only if the information is likely to be updated or changed at a later date (as in the case of blogs and wikis). Since many online periodicals appear in their "final" form, a retrieval date is not necessary.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Online Periodical, volume number(issue number if available). Retrieved month day, year, (if necessary) from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Bernstein, M. (2002). 10 tips on writing the living Web. A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites, 149. Retrieved May 2, 2006, from http://www.alistapart.com/articles/writeliving

Online Scholarly Journal Article

Since online materials can potentially change URL's, APA recommends providing a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), when it is available, as opposed to the URL. DOI's are an attempt to provide stable, long-lasting links for online articles. They are unique to their documents and consist of a long alphanumeric code. Many-but not all-publishers will provide an article's DOI on the first page of the document.

Note that some online bibliographies provide an article's DOI but may "hide" the code under a button which may read "Article" or may be an abbreviation of a vendors name like "CrossRef" or "PubMed." This button will usually lead the user to the full article which will include the DOI. Find DOI's from print publications or ones that go to dead links with CrossRef.org's "DOI Resolver," which is displayed in a central location on their home page.

Article From an Online Periodical with DOI Assigned
Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. doi:0000000/000000000000

Brownlie, D. Toward effective poster presentations: An annotated bibliography. European Journal of Marketing, 41(11/12), 1245-1283. doi:10.1108/03090560710821161

Article From an Online Periodical with no DOI Assigned

Online scholarly journal articles without a DOI require a URL but do not require a retrieval date. Provide a retrieval date only if the information is likely to be updated or changed at a later date (as in the case of blogs and wikis). Since most journal articles appear in their "final" form, a retrieval date is not needed.

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. Title of Journal, volume number. Retrieved month day, year, from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Kenneth, I. A. (2000). A Buddhist response to the nature of human rights. Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 8.Retrieved February 20, 2001, from http://www.cac.psu.edu/jbe/twocont.html

If the article appears as a printed version as well, the URL is not required. Use "Electronic version" in brackets after the article's title.

Whitmeyer, J.M. (2000). Power through appointment [Electronic version]. Social Science Research, 29, 535-555.

Article From a Database

When referencing material obtained from an online database (such as a database in the library), provide appropriate print citation information (formatted just like a "normal" print citation would be for that type of work). Then add information that gives the date of retrieval and the proper name of the database. This will allow people to retrieve the print version if they do not have access to the database from which you retrieved the article. You can also include the item number or accession number in parentheses at the end, but the APA manual says that this is not required. (For more about citing articles retrieved from electronic databases, see page 278 of the Publication Manual.)

Smyth, A. M., Parker, A. L., & Pease, D. L. (2002). A study of enjoyment of peas. Journal of Abnormal Eating, 8(3). Retrieved February 20, 2003, from PsycARTICLES database.

Abstract
If you only cite an abstract but the full text of the article is also available, cite the online abstract as other online citations, adding "[Abstract]" after the article or source name. If only the abstract is available, write "Abstract retrieved from" and provide the database name or URL.

Paterson, P. (2008). How well do young offenders with Asperger Syndrome cope in custody?: Two prison case studies [Abstract]. British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(1), 54-58. Retrieved from EBSCO Host database.

Bossong, G. Ergativity in Basque. Linguistics, 22(3), 341-392. Abstract retrieved from Linguistics Abstracts Online.

Newspaper Article

Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of Newspaper. Retrieved http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/

Parker-Pope, T. (2008, May 6). Psychiatry handbook linked to drug industry. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

Electronic Books

Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in audio form. Use the following format if the book you are using is only provided in a digital format or is difficult to find in print. If the work is not directly available online or must be purchased, use "Available from," rather than "Retrieved from," and point readers to where they can find it.

De Huff, E.W. Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian tales. Retrieved from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/
taytay.html

Davis, J. Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-
9780931686108-0

Chapter/Section of a Web document or Online Book Chapter

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of article. In Title of book or larger document (chapter or section number). Retrieved month day, year, from http://www.someaddress.com/full/url/.

Engelshcall, R. S. (1997). Module mod_rewrite: URL Rewriting Engine. In Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3 Documentation (Apache modules.) Retrieved March 10, 2006, from http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html

Peckinpaugh, J. (2003). Change in the Nineties. In J.S. Bough and G.B. DuBois (Eds.), A century of growth in America. Retrieved from GoldStar database.

NOTE: Use a chapter or section identifier and provide a URL that links directly to the chapter section, not the home page of the Web site.

Online Book Reviews

Cite the information as you normally would for the work you are quoting. (The first example below is from a newspaper article; the second is from a scholarly journal.) In brackets, write "Review of the book" and give the title of the reviewed work. Provide the web address after the words "Retrieved from," if the review is freely available to anyone. If the review comes from a subscription service or database, write "Available from" and provide the information where the review can be purchased.

Zacharek, S. (2008, April 27). Natural women [Review of the book Girls like us ]. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck
-t.html?pagewanted=2

Castle, G. (2007). New millennial Joyce [Review of the books Twenty-first Joyce, Joyce's critics: Transitions in reading and culture, and Joyce's messianism: Dante, negative existence, and the messianic self]. Modern Fiction Studies, 50(1), 163-173. Available from Project MUSE Web site: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modern_fiction_studies/toc/
mfs52.1.html

Dissertation/Thesis from a Database

Biswas, S. (2008). Dopamine D3 receptor: A neuroprotective treatment target in Parkinson's disease. Retrieved from ProQuest Digital Dissertations. (AAT 3295214)

Online Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Often encyclopedias and dictionaries do not provide bylines (authors' names). When no byline is present, move the entry name to the front of the citation. Provide publication dates if present or specify (n.d.) if no date is present in the entry. Because updates and modifications are not normally specified, provide the retrieval date in the citation. When listing the URL, give only the home or index root as opposed to the URL for the entry.
Feminism. (n.d.) In Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from http:// www.britannica.com

Online Bibliographies and Annotated Bibliographies

Jürgens, R. (2005). HIV/AIDS and HCV in Prisons: A Select Annotated Bibliography. Retrieved from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/alt_formats/hpb-dgps/
pdf/intactiv/hiv-vih-aids-sida-prison-carceral_e.pdf

Data Sets
Point readers to raw data by providing a Web address (use "Retrieved from") or a general place that houses data sets on the site (use "Available from").

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Indiana income limits [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www.huduser.org/Datasets/IL/IL08/in_fy2008.pdf

Graphic Data (e.g. Interactive Maps and Other Graphic Representations of Data)

Give the name of the researching organization followed by the date. In brackets, provide a brief explanation of what type of data is there and in what form it appears. Finally, provide the project name and retrieval information.

Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment. (2007). [Graph illustration the SORCE Spectral Plot May 8, 2008]. Solar Spectral Data Access from the SIM, SOLSTICE, and XPS Instruments. Retrieved from http://lasp.colorado.edu/cgi-bin/ion-p?page=input_data_for_ spectra.ion

Qualitative Data and Online Interviews

If an interview is not retrievable in audio or print form, cite the interview only in the text (not in the reference list) and provide the month, day, and year in the text. If an audio file or transcript is available online, use the following model, specifying the medium in brackets (e.g. [Interview transcript, Interview audio file]):

Butler, C. (Interviewer) & Stevenson, R. (Interviewee). (1999). Oral History 2 [Interview transcript]. Retrieved from Johnson Space Center Oral Histories Project Web site: http:// www11.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/oral_
histories.htm

Online Lecture Notes and Presentation Slides

When citing online lecture notes, be sure to provide the file format in brackets after the lecture title (e.g. PowerPoint slides, Word document).

Hallam, A. Duality in consumer theory [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Web site: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ501/Hallam/
index.html

Roberts, K. F. (1998). Federal regulations of chemicals in the environment [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/40hrenv/index.html

Nonperiodical Web Document, Web Page, or Report

List as much of the following information as possible (you sometimes have to hunt around to find the information; don't be lazy. If there is a page like http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the information you're looking for, move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved month day, year (only if the text may potentially change over time), from http://Web address

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Computer Software/Downloaded Software

Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel) or programming languages. Provide references only for specialized software.

Ludwig, T. (2002). PsychInquiry [computer software]. New York: Worth.
Software that is downloaded from a Web site should provide the software’s version and year when available.

Hayes, B., Tesar, B., & Zuraw, K. (2003). OTSoft: Optimality Theory Software (Version 2.1) [Software]. Available from http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/

E-mail

E-mails are not included in the list of references, though you parenthetically cite them in your main text: (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001).

Online Forum or Discussion Board Posting

Include the title of the message, and the URL of the newsgroup or discussion board. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author's name is not available, provide the screen name. Place identifiers like post or message numbers, if available, in brackets. If available, provide the URL where the message is archived (e.g. "Message posted to..., archived at...").

Frook, B. D. (1999, July 23). New inventions in the cyberworld of toylandia [Msg 25]. Message posted to http://groups.earthlink.com/forum/messages/00025.html

Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post

Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author’s name is not available, provide the screen name.

Dean, J. (2008, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the mirror? Message posted to http://www.spring.org.uk/
the1sttransport. (2004, September 26). Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M

Wikis

Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.

OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved May 1, 2008, from the OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay

Audio Podcast

For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Bell, T. & Phillips, T. 2008, May 6). A solar flare. Science @ NASA Podcast. Podcast retrieved from http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.htm

Video Podcasts

For all podcasts, provide as much information as possible; not all of the following information will be available. Possible addition identifiers may include Producer, Director, etc.

Scott, D. (Producer). (2007, January 5). The community college classroom [Episode 7]. Adventures in Education. Podcast retrieved from http://www.adveeducation.com

Developing Empirical Research Reports

Developing Empirical Research Reports

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this chapter are to

• Reiterate the role of audience and context in designing reports.
• Explain what empirical research reports are and in what types of contexts they are typically produced.
• Explain the major sections of empirical research reports.
• Analyze several empirical research reports in order to illustrate the great diversity in approaches when developing such reports.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Like Chapters 13 and 14, Chapter 15 is an important application chapter in Reporting Technical Information. Our goals are to help students understand the nuances of and to develop confidence in producing these types of reports, even if they will not complete a whole report during the course.

The similarities between this and the previous chapter are obvious. You may use both chapters in any one semester. For example, you may require a recommendation report in a class that is predominantly business majors and an empirical research report in a class of scientists and engineers. The authors of RTI were thoughtful in separating these two types of reports because they are very different documents in terms of their contexts for use. Although professionals in the scientific fields may see, use, and write empirical reports more often, students in other fields can also benefit from this writing opportunity. Future marketing professionals should see that research may be a significant part of their careers. Humanities majors may enter into jobs requiring grant requests and subsequent deliverables that require elements strongly related to empirical research reports as well.

At minimum, students will benefit from understanding this information because it will help them further understand the research materials they use. Knowing the elements and how they function together will add to students’ understanding of the research journals and other technical reports commonly used as the basis for academic work and for professional data gathering.

You may approach this chapter as a resource for actual report development, or you may use this information as a tool for analyzing already published or professionally created materials. A careful analysis, even without actual research report writing, can yield significantly improved understanding on the students’ part.
WORKSHOP ACTIVITIES

Because they share membership in the same genre of documents, the assignments here will closely resemble the assignments listed in Chapter 14:

Traditional Classroom

1. Apply the checklists. A good classroom exercise is to use the checklists at the end of the chapter to analyze the example reports shown within the chapter or contained on the Companion Web Site (www.oup.com/us/houp). Students tend not to read the examples carefully. Also, they tend not to use the checklists when they are completing their own drafts and thus fail to include certain key components. Applying the checklists to the examples in the book or on the Web site may help in both these areas.

2. Show-and-tell empirical research reports. Have students find and bring in empirical research reports to present to the class. An easy and excellent source is research journals in many fields, including the hard sciences, social sciences, engineering, medicine, etc. Some enterprising students may even find slightly nontraditional research reports that accomplish the same purpose, include the same information, but are written to a less common audience (executive, for example) or use organization (or design) not seen in typical research reports. Of course, the Companion Web Site also has several excellent examples. Have students compare the structure of the reports they bring in to the structure shown in the textbook. Encourage them to think critically about how the reports’ content, style, design, and organization are a result of audience needs and expectations.

3. Unscramble scrambled empirical research report text. Take the text of a good research report, scramble the sections moderately, and then retype that text as one huge paragraph without any formatting. Get the class to discuss how to rearrange and format the text. (Get students to bring scissors and tape to class.) Or you can bring a computer and projector into your classroom, and have students tell you how to edit the scrambled text.

4. Group-brainstorm a hypothetical empirical research report project. Plan a research report together as a class. Start with terms common to the students’ major fields. From here, consider research problems related to these terms or even to hot topics seen in the news. Define the research problem; consider the requirements of the literature review; sketch out the methods, equipment, and facilities for the actual text; and imagine the results and conclusions.

5. Interview an experienced professional about the process of developing empirical research reports. Students typically have ready access to professors or other research professionals while in school. Especially for students who want to go into research or academia, interviewing a seasoned professional with experience developing and even publishing research reports will be an enlightening experience. Have students brainstorm questions and write polite interview requests (see Chapter 7). Also make sure that you have students indicate their interviewees up front to avoid repetition. The interview will probably take 30 minutes or more, so you don’t want more than one student requesting help from the same professor (unless they are doing this in groups). Combine this exercise with number 2 above in preparation for an excellent informative report, from individual students or small groups (see project 4 below).

6. Oral presentations on empirical research report projects. Consider having students do brief three- to five-minute oral reports on their empirical research report projects. This works as a group-brainstorming exercise, helps students who are stumped for a project idea, and just generally raises the energy level of the class.

Computer Classroom

1. Study the style and design of research reports found online. Use the Web’s offering of e-journals as the starting point for this activity. Have students find a research journal published in their general field—with some careful searching, they may even be able to find corporate research reports (in lower security situations). Using Chapter 4 (style), Chapter 8 (document design), and this chapter, students should carefully analyze the sentence structure, word choice, level of formality and complexity; use of headings, spacing, text, lists, and graphics, and overall organization and emphasis in these examples. They can then apply this analysis to expectations for future projects, or they can draw conclusions about the audience-product connection of these materials.

2. Brainstorm, plan, and research a topic for an empirical research report. This activity is very similar to the second activity listed in the “Computer Classroom” section in Chapter 14. See the details there, and adapt it for an empirical research report focus.

3. Search online for information on research methods in your field. This is an adaptation of Exercise 2 in the textbook. This will work best in teams, if possible; however, it can be done individually as well. Group your students by majors, and have them search online for the standard research methods used in their fields. Ask the students to compile a list of the methods with brief explanations and to draft a short slide presentation for the class and to present it using a projector and screen.

WRITING PROJECTS

The empirical research report is a bit more challenging, because a traditional report requires that research is under way in order to support its content. However, with a little creative thinking, you can still achieve the chapter objectives. Here are a few project ideas.

Traditional Assignments

1. Write the beginnings of an empirical research report. Your students will probably not be involved in any direct empirical research or be able to conduct such research during their semester in technical writing. However, they can write the preliminaries of an empirical research report—specifically, the introduction, literature review, materials and methods section, and perhaps an expected outcomes section (to replace the results and conclusions sections).

2. Write a recommendation report (Chapter 14) on existing research. Another way to get students close to real empirical research is to have them review, summarize, and analyze the existing research literature on a topic. For example, your health sciences and pre-med students could review the literature on caffeine, saccharine, and other substances thought to cause cancer. The analytical part of projects like these would be to make recommendations for further research, evaluate the research that has been done, or both.

3. Create a mini-research report, based upon actual research. If you truly want your students to have the experience of creating a research report, then either let them brainstorm a research project or assign one yourself. Require a process such as interviewing, surveying, or critically observing behavior—something that can be completed with relative ease but will require a detailed description in the methods section. Rather than the report being up to dozens of pages long, set the scope of the project to produce a five-to-seven page report, or even shorter if it will fit in with other semester plans. Think creatively.

4. Report on your interview with a professional as assigned in Activity 5 above. To further tie this to the chapter, have students refer back to the reading as they discuss what they learned in the interview. Students may also ask the interviewee for examples of his or her own reports. These can be incorporated into the discussion and attached as appendixes.

5. Report on your analysis of existing research reports as assigned in the computer classroom Activity 2 above. Make sure students save, possibly print, and definitely refer to the examples found online. Reinforce the need to relate what they found about report style and design back to the audience and to make their analyses critical—looking for ways to improve.

6. In small groups, write a more thorough and detailed report combining projects 4 and 5 above. To truly approach a comprehensive study, have pairs or small groups gather and report on a variety of information sources regarding the report. This will allow them a variety of perspectives from which to judge a document’s effectiveness.

Distance Learning Assignments

1. Post drafts and exchange peer reviews. Apply this especially to writing project 1 above. Much like an in-class workshop, this effort must be carefully orchestrated. Students must post drafts by a pre-set deadline, peer critiques must follow by a specified date, and time between these critiques and the final due date must be sufficient for students to retrieve the comments and make revisions. See the workshop section in this manual for more general hints.

2. Develop an in-depth literature review and post it as a Web page or small Web site. This is very similar to distance learning project 2 in Chapter 14, combined with traditional classroom project 1 above. The benefit of doing this online is that students can link to their research sources for support and further reference. The extent of this hyperlinking can be minimized, for reference only, or maximized to truly integrate the sources via paraphrasing, quoting, or other means of referencing. In the not-too-distant future, students may even link to streaming files rather than to static text.

3. Complete Exercise 2 in the textbook and post a slide presentation online. Ask students to research the standard research methods in their fields, list and explain each method in a slide presentation, and post their presentations online (as an attachment to a discussion thread or as an assignment post in WebCT, Blackboard, or some other class tool that you have available). Require each student to view another student’s presentation and to post a review of that presentation.

RELEVANT LINKS

• Langley Technical Reports Server (http://techreports.larc.nasa.gov/ltrs/ltrs.html)
• Documentation: Citing Sources of Borrowed Information (http://www.io.com/~hcexres/tcm1603/acchtml/docu.html)
• Rutgers University, WIRE: Empirical Reports in Science, Psychology, Sociology, and Economics (http://wire.rutgers.edu/research_assignments_empirical.html)
• University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries: Library Guide to Finding Empirical Research (http://www.umkc.edu/lib/Instruction/MNLsubjguides/empirical.htm)
• Daryl J. Bem, Cornell University, Writing an Empirical Journal Article (http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/dbem/writing_article.html)

WORKSHEETS

You may wish to reproduce the following worksheets for use in class or as homework.

Planning for Empirical Research Reports

Discuss and fill in the characteristics. Note that you may not always find absolute answers.
Characteristic Applied to Empirical Research Report

Audience Experience & Education

Audience Attitudes

Audience Concerns

Elements of Format

Elements of Design

Style of Writing

Method(s) of Documentation

Ways to Establish & Ensure Credibility

Other

Troubleshooting for Empirical Research Reports

Think critically about each section. What key issues will contribute to the report’s success?
Report Section Critical Issues

Abstract

Introduction & Literature Review

Materials & Methods

Results

Conclusions

Acknowledgments & References

Sample Empirical Research Assignment (1 Page)

To: Technical Writing Students
Date:
From:

Re: Request for Mini-Empirical Research Report

Most students obviously don’t have the time or other resources to complete a fully formed empirical research report. However, the skills used in such reports are critical across most fields. Below are the specifications and request for a mini-empirical research report. This will provide a similar experience but on a smaller scale.

Fictional Context

You are a student worker for the dean of your college. One day she calls you into her office and shows you a recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education that says the following: “Studies at UC-Berkeley show that males have a higher rate of degree major changes than females do. The tendency for male college students to change majors more often may indicate that college advisors need to form a concerted effort to help this population make better degree decisions earlier, thereby saving money and grade point averages from being wasted on inappropriate class choices.”

The dean is skeptical about this information and would like to know how it applies here at are our school. Who changes majors most frequently? Who changes majors the highest number of times? She asks you to specially research the topic and put the results in a memo report to her. Depending upon the outcome, she may convey it to other administrators at the school.

Specifications

Please design a means of testing the Chronicle’s hypothesis that gathers information from at least 25 students at this school, and be prepared to review this research method with strict precision and accuracy. Based on this research, you will write an informal research report that includes these sections: introduction (including background review), methods/materials, results, and discussion. Make sure to use an appropriate writing style, level of detail, and design.

• Gather major-change/gender data on at least 25 students.
• Include all of the sections used in a traditional empirical research report.
• Put this in memo format.
• Use audience-appropriate writing style and tone.
• Use helpful design.
• Include a graphic to help illustrate relationships.

Grade Expectations

This will be graded according to how well you follow instructions and integrate the information from Chapter 17 of Reporting Technical Information. Make sure to use concrete, clear details in your methods section and to report your results and interpret them ethically. Your report will also be graded on correct memo format, good writing style, helpful design, and useful/clear graphic design and integration.

OVERHEADS

The figure on the following pages may be reproduced as overhead transparencies or simply shown on a computer. The following set of discussion questions associated with the figure may be used to elicit student reflections on the concepts.

Discussion Questions for Figure 15-1

• How might empirical research reports be used in your future profession?
• What sorts of ethical issues are attendant upon researching and presenting these reports?
Structure of Empirical Research Reports

• Abstract (Summary)
• Arguably the most important section
• Should be able to replace the report for readers who will not read the report
• Must clearly state purpose and results of the report

• Introduction
• Statement and importance of problem
• May be combined with the literature review and the purpose statement
• Gives the subject, scope, significance, and objectives of the research

• Literature Review
• What is known about the topic
• Summary of relevant research with parenthetical citations
• May be combined with the introduction and the purpose statement
• Should support the objectives of the research, why the research is needed, what gap this research will fill in solving the problem
• Purpose
• States purpose of the current empirical research report
• May be combined with the introduction and the literature review

• Materials and Methods
• Should allow researchers to duplicate research
• Helps build credibility
• May include the following:
• Design of the investigation
• Materials used
• Procedure—how you conducted the research
• Methods used for observation, analysis, and interpretation

• Results
• Should coordinate clearly and precisely with the Methods section
• Outcomes should be tied to procedure

• (Discussion)
• Analysis of results
• May be incorporated in Results section or may be a separate section

• Conclusion
• Summarizes what the research yielded
• May be incorporated in the discussion
• Needs to focus on accuracy, any limitations of findings, and any questions that need further investigation
• Allows writer to assess the experiment and suggest further research

• Acknowledgments and References
• Acknowledgments note the help of individuals who worked on the research
• Acknowledgments may occur in footnotes or in a section at the end of the report
• Any resources mentioned in the report should have full citations in the Reference section

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Sabtu, 6 Ogos 2011