Chapter 6 Technical Writing

Research Questions and Methods

-(Type of Question) What is the theory behind this process or technique? (Example of Question) How do greenhouse gases contribute to global warming? (Appropriate Research Technique) Encyclopedias, handbooks, and journal articles present theory. Also, you can find theoretical information on websites of reputable professional organizations and universities. Search using keywords such as "greenhouse gases" and "global warming." -(Type of Question) What is the history of this phenomenon? (Example of Question) When and how did engineers first try to extract shale oil? (Appropriate Research Technique) Encyclopedias and handbooks present history. Also, you can find historical information on websites of reputable professional organizations and universities. Search using keywords such as "shale oil" and "petroleum history." -(Type of Question) What techniques are being used now to solve this problem? (Example of Question) How are companies responding to the federal government's laws on health-insurance portability? (Appropriate Research Technique) If you need recent information, you will have better luck using digital resources such as websites and social media than using traditional print media. Search using keywords and tags such as "health-insurance portability." Your search will be most effective if you use standard terminology, such as "HIPAA" for the health-insurance law. -(Type of Question) How is a current situation expected to change? (Example of Question) What changes will outsourcing cause in the computer-support industry over the next 10 to 20 years? (Appropriate Research Technique) For long-range predictions, you can find information in journal articles and magazine articles and on reputable websites. Experts might write forecasts on discussion forums and blogs. -(Type of Question) What products are available to perform a task or provide a service? (Example of Question) Which vendors are available to upgrade and maintain our company's website? (Appropriate Research Technique) For products and services, search websites, discussion forums, and blogs. Reputable vendors — manufacturers and service providers — have sites describing their offerings. But be careful not to assume vendors' claims are accurate. Even the specifications they provide might be exaggerated.

More examples of Research Questions and Methods

-(Type of Question)What are the strengths and weaknesses of competing products and services? (Example of Question) Which portable GPS system is the lightest? (Appropriate Research Technique) Search for benchmarking articles from experts in the field, such as a journal article (either in print or on the web) about camping and outfitting that compares the available GPS systems according to reasonable criteria. Also check discussion forums for reviews and blogs for opinions. If appropriate, do field research to answer your questions. -(Type of Question) Which product or service do experts recommend? (Example of Question) Which four-wheel-drive SUV offers the best combination of features and quality for our needs? (Appropriate Research Technique) Experts write journal articles, magazine articles, and sometimes blogs. Often, they participate in discussion forums. Sometimes, you can interview them, in person or on the phone, or write them inquiries. -(Type of Question) What do our stakeholders think about a current or proposed product or service? (Example of Question) Would the public like to see us add a plug-in hybrid version to our line of small SUVs? (Appropriate Research Technique) How would we market it to distinguish it from the existing hybrid small SUVs? Study journal and magazine articles or influential blogs or post a question on a company blog or on a microblogging site such as Tumblr and ask for responses. Also consider analyzing social-media data, using software to capture and measure keywords from social-media platforms. -(Type of Question) What are the facts about how we do our jobs at this company? (Example of Question) Do our chemists use gas chromatography in their analyses? (Appropriate Research Technique) Sometimes, you can interview someone, in person or on the phone, to answer a simple question. To determine whether your chemists use a particular technique, start by asking someone in the relevant department. -(Type of Question) What can we learn about what caused a problem in our organization? (Example of Question) What caused the contamination in the clean room? (Appropriate research technique) You can interview personnel who were closest to the problem and inspect the scene to determine the cause of the problem. -(Type of Question) What do our personnel think we should do about a situation? (Example of Question) Do our quality-control analysts think we need to revise our sampling quotient? (Appropriate research technique) If there are only a few personnel, interview them. If there are many, use questionnaires to get the information more quickly. -(Type of Question) How well would this product or service work in our organization? (Example of Question) Would this scanner produce the quality of scan that we need, and interface well with our computer equipment? (Appropriate research technique) Read product reviews on reputable websites. Study discussion forums. Observe the use of the product or service at a vendor's site. Schedule product demos at your site. Follow up by interviewing others in your company to get their thinking. Do an experiment in which you try two different solutions to a problem and then analyze the results.

Inquiries

-A useful alternative to a personal interview is to send an inquiry. This inquiry can take the form of a letter, an email, or a message sent through an organization's website. If you are lucky, your respondent will provide detailed and helpful answers. However, the respondent might not clearly understand what you want to know or might choose not to help you. Although the strategy of the inquiry is essentially that of a personal interview, inquiries can be less successful because the recipient has not already agreed to provide information and might not respond. Also, an inquiry, unlike an interview, gives you little opportunity to follow up by asking for clarification.

Guidelines for Evaluating Print and Online Sources

-Authorship: (For printed sources) Do you recognize the name of the author? Does the source describe the author's credentials and current position? If not, can you find this information in a "who's who" or by searching for other books or other journal articles by the author? (For Online Sources): If you do not recognize the author's name, is the site mentioned on another reputable site? Does the site contain links to other reputable sites? Does it contain biographical information — the author's current position and credentials? Can you use a search engine to find other references to the author's credentials? Be especially careful with unedited sources such as Wikipedia; some articles in it are authoritative, others are not. Be careful, too, with blogs, some of which are written by disgruntled former employees with a score to settle. -Publisher: (For printed sources) What is the publisher's reputation? A reliable book is published by a reputable trade, academic, or scholarly publisher; a reliable journal is sponsored by a professional association or university. Are the editorial board members well known? Trade publications — magazines about a particular industry or group — often promote the interests of that industry or group. For example, information in a trade publication for either loggers or environmentalists might be biased. If you doubt the reliability of a book or journal, ask a reference librarian or a professor. (For online sources):Can you determine the publisher's identity from headers or footers? Is the publisher reputable? If the site comes from a personal account, the information it offers might be outside the author's field of expertise. Many Internet sites exist largely for public relations or advertising. For instance, websites of corporations and other organizations are unlikely to contain self-critical information. For blogs, examine the blogroll, a list of links to other blogs and websites. Credible blogs are likely to link to blogs already known to be credible. If a blog links only to the author's friends, blogs hosted by the same corporation, or blogs that express the same beliefs, be very cautious. -Knowledge of the Literature: (For printed sources) Does the author appear to be knowledgeable about the major literature on the topic? Is there a bibliography? Are there notes throughout the document (For Online Sources): Analyze the Internet source as you would any other source. Often, references to other sources will take the form of links -Accuracy and verifiability of the information: (For printed sources) Is the information based on reasonable assumptions? Does the author clearly describe the methods and theories used in producing the information, and are they appropriate to the subject? Has the author used sound reasoning? Has the author explained the limitations of the information? (For online sources): Is the site well constructed? Is the information well written? Is it based on reasonable assumptions? Are the claims supported by appropriate evidence? Has the author used sound reasoning? Has the author explained the limitations of the information? Are sources cited? Online services such as Clicky help you evaluate how active a blog is, how the blog ranks compared to other blogs, and who is citing the blog. Active, influential blogs that are frequently linked to and cited by others are more likely to contain accurate, verifiable information. -Timeliness: (For printed sources) Does the document rely on recent data? Was the document published recently? (For online sources): Was the document created recently? Was it updated recently? If a site is not yet complete, be wary.

Primary Research

-Involves discovering or creating technical information yourself

Secondary Research

-Involves finding information that other people have already discovered or created (This Chapter will present secondary research first because you will probably do secondary research first, since you need a thorough understanding of the information that already exists about your subject)

Using Social Media and other Interactive Resources

-Social media and other interactive resources enable people to collaborate, share, link, and generate content in ways that traditional websites offering static content cannot. However, the ease and speed with which new content can be posted, as well as the lack of formal review of the content, creates challenges for online researchers. Everyone using social-media resources must be extra cautious in evaluating and documenting sources.

Research to Support Your Technical Communication

As a buyer for a clothing retailer, for example, you might need to conduct research to help you determine whether a new line of products would be successful in your store. As a civil engineer, you might need to perform research to determine whether to replace your company's current surveying equipment with 3D-equipped stations. And as a pharmacist, you might need to research whether a prescribed medication might have a harmful interaction with another medication a patient is already taking

Evaluating the Information (paraphrased)

-Accurate: Suppose you are researching whether your company should consider flextime scheduling. If your research returns conflicting results, you will want to find additional sources on the subject, to help you make a decision -Unbiased. You want sources that have no financial stake in your project. A private company that transports workers in vans is likely to be a biased source because it could profit from flextime, making extra trips to bring employees to work at different times. -Comprehensive: You want information from different kinds of people — in terms of gender, cultural characteristics, and age — and from people representing all viewpoints on the topic. -Appropriately technical: Good information is sufficiently detailed to respond to the needs of your readers, but not so detailed that they cannot understand it or do not need it. For the flextime study, you need to find out whether opening your building an hour earlier and closing it an hour later would significantly affect your utility costs. You can get this information by interviewing people in the Operations Department; you do not need to do a detailed inspection of all the utility records of the company. -Current: If your information is 10 years old, it might not accurately reflect today's situation. -Clear: You want information that is easy to understand. Otherwise, you'll waste time figuring it out, and you might misinterpret it.

Conducting Primary Research

-Although the library and the Internet offer a wealth of authoritative information, in the workplace you will often need to conduct primary research because you need new information.

What are the 8 major categories of primary research

-Analysis of Social Media Data -Observations and demonstrations -Inspections -Experiments -Field Research -Interviews -Inquiries -Questionnaires

8 steps for planning for the research process

-Analyze your audience: Who are your most important readers? What are their personal characteristics, their attitudes toward your subject, their motivations for reading? If you are writing to an expert audience that might be skeptical about your message, you need to do a lot of research to gather the evidence for a convincing argument -Analyze your purpose: Why are you writing? Understanding your purpose helps you understand the types of information readers will expect. Think in terms of what you want your readers to know or believe or do after they finish reading your document -Analyze your subject: What do you already know about your subject? What do you still need to find out? Using techniques such as freewriting and brainstorming, you can determine those aspects of the subject you need to investigate -Consider the document type: What application will you need to deliver: a proposal, a report, a website? What kind of oral presentation will you need to deliver? -Work out a schedule and a budget for the project: When is the document due? Do you have a budget for phone calls, database searches, or travel to libraries or other sites? -Determine what information will need to be part of the document: Draft an outline of the contents, focusing on the kinds of information that readers will expect to see in each part -Determine what information you still need to acquire: Make a list of the pieces of information you don't yet have. -Create questions you need to answer in your document: Writing the questions in a list forces you to think carefully about your topic. One question suggests another, and soon you have a lengthy list that you need to answer

Conducting an Interview, beginning the interview

-Arrive on time. -Thank the respondent for taking the time to talk with you. -State the subject and purpose of the interview and what you plan to do with the information. -If you wish to record the interview, ask permission.

Testing the Questionnaire

-Before you send out any questionnaire, show it and its accompanying explanation to a few people who can help you identify any problems. After you have revised the materials, test them on people whose backgrounds are similar to those of your intended respondents. Revise the materials a second time, and, if possible, test them again. Once you have sent the questionnaire, you cannot revise it and resend it to the same people

Types of Secondary Research Sources

-Books: Printed (and electronic) books continue to be useful and popular. Most are edited and published by reputable organizations, some of them with a scientific or academic affiliation. Books provide in-depth background information on a wide range of subjects. -Periodicals (journals and magazines): Usually published weekly, monthly, or quarterly, periodicals typically focus on a specific subject area and provide recent findings on a variety of issues. Journals tend to be more scholarly and scientific, and their articles are often reviewed by experts in the field; magazines are intended for a more general audience. Many periodicals are available in both print and digital formats -Newspapers and online news sources: Three of the most important indexed U.S. newspapers are the following: — the New York Times, perhaps the most reputable U.S. newspaper for national and international news — the Christian Science Monitor, another highly regarded general newspaper — the Wall Street Journal, the most authoritative news source on business, finance, and the economy Many newspapers available on the web can be searched electronically, although sometimes there is a charge for archived articles. In addition, important news sites such as CNN.com have become reliable sources for breaking news. - Government documents: The U.S. government is the world's biggest publisher. In researching any field of science, engineering, or business, you are likely to find that a federal agency or department has produced a relevant brochure, report, or book. Government publications are cataloged and shelved separately from other kinds of materials. They are classified according to the Superintendent of Documents system, not the Library of Congress system. A reference librarian or a government documents specialist at your library can help you use government publications. You can also access various government sites and databases on the Internet. For example, if your company wishes to respond to a request for proposals (RFP) published by a federal government agency, you will find that RFP on a government site. The major entry point for federal government sites is USA.gov, which links to hundreds of millions of pages of government information and services. It also features tutorials, a topical index, online transactions, and links to state and local government sites. -Websites and social media: Web searches can yield many sources that exist only on the Internet, from company-sponsored sites to online archives. Social-media sources include discussion forums, blogs, and wikis. Because social-media sites typically provide user-generated content, they must be used with caution, as detailed in the next section.

Conducting the interview

-Take notes. Write down important concepts, facts, and numbers, but don't take such copious notes that you can't make eye contact with the respondent or that you are still writing when the respondent finishes an answer. -Start with prepared questions. Because you are likely to be nervous at the start, you might forget important questions. Have your first few questions ready. -Be prepared to ask follow-up questions. Listen carefully to the respondent's answer and be ready to ask a follow-up question or request a clarification. Have your other prepared questions ready, but be willing to deviate from them if the respondent leads you in unexpected directions. -Be prepared to get the interview back on track. Gently return to the point if the respondent begins straying unproductively, but don't interrupt rudely or show annoyance. Do not say, "Whoa! I asked about layoffs in this company, not in the whole industry." Rather, say, "On the question of layoffs at this company, do you anticipate ... ?"

7 guidelines for researching a topic

-Conduct secondary research: Study journal articles and web-based sources such as online journals, discussion forums, blogs, and podcasts -Conduct primary research: You can answer some of your questions by consulting company records, by interviewing experts in your organization, by distributing questionnaires, and by interviewing other people in the industry. Other questions call for using social media to gather information from your customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders -Be persistent: Don't be discouraged if a research method doesn't yield useful information. Even experienced researchers fail at least as often as they succeed. Be prepared to rethink how you might find the information. Don't hesitate to ask reference librarians for help or to post questions on discussion forums. -Evaluate your information: Once you have your information, you need to evaluate its quality: is it accurate, comprehensive, unbiased, and current? -Record your data carefully: Prepare the materials you will need. Write information down, on paper or electronically. Record interviews (with the respondents' permission). Paste the URLs of the sites you visit into your notes. Bookmark sites so that you can return to them easily -Triangulate your research methods: Triangulating your research methods means using more than one or two methods. If a manufacturer's website says a printer produces 17 pages per minute, an independent review in a reputable journal also says 17, and you get 17 in a demo at your office with your documents, the printer probably will produce 17 pages per minute. When you need to answer important questions, don't settle for only one or two sources. -Do more research: If the information you have acquired doesn't sufficiently answer your questions, do more research. And if you have thought of additional questions that need to be answered, do more research. When do you stop doing research? You stop only when you think you have enough high-quality information to create your document.

Administering the Questionnaire

-Determining who should receive the questionnaire can be simple or difficult. If you want to know what the residents of a particular street think about a proposed construction project, your job is easy. But if you want to know what mechanical-engineering students in colleges across the country think about their curricula, you will need a background in sampling techniques to identify a representative sample. -Make it easy for respondents to present their information. For mailed questionnaires, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope

Choosing appropriate research methods

-Different research questions require different research methods. Once you determined the questions you need to answer, think about the various research techniques you could use to answer them -For example, your research methods for finding out how a current situation is expected to change would differ from your research methods for finding out how well a product might work for your organization. That is, if you want to know how outsourcing will change the computer-support industry over the next 10 to 20 years, you might search for long-range predictions in journal and magazine articles and on reputable websites and blogs. By contrast, if you want to figure out whether a specific scanner will produce the quality of scan that you need and will function reliably, you might do the same kind of secondary research and then observe the operation of the scanner at a vendor's site, schedule product demos at your site, follow up by interviewing others in your company, and perform an experiment in which you try two different scanners and analyze the results. -You are likely to find that your research plan changes as you conduct your research. You might find, for instance, that you need more than one method to get the information you need or that the one method you thought would work doesn't. Still, having a plan can help you discover the most appropriate methods more quickly and efficiently.

3 categories (social media, web based resources) used by researchers (diss forms, wikis, blogs) 2 techniques for streamlining process of using these resources (tagged content, RSS feeds)

-Discussion Forums: Online discussion forums sponsored by professional organizations, private companies, and others enable researchers to tap a community's information. Discussion forums are especially useful for presenting quick, practical advice. However, the advice might or might not be authoritative, so it should be checked against other sources whenever possible. -Wikis: A wiki is a website that makes it easy for members of a community, company, or organization to create and edit content collaboratively. Often, a wiki contains articles, information about student and professional conferences, reading lists, annotated sets of links, book reviews, and documents used by members of the community. You might have participated in creating and maintaining a wiki in one of your courses or as a member of a community group outside of your college. Wikis are popular with researchers because they contain information that can change from day to day, on topics in fields such as medicine or business. As members make changes to the content, the wiki keeps track of who made the changes and when they were made. In addition, because wikis rely on information contributed voluntarily by members of a community, they represent a much broader spectrum of viewpoints than media that publish only information that has been approved by editors. For this reason, however, you should be especially careful when you use wikis; the information they contain might not be trustworthy. It's a good idea to corroborate any information you find on a wiki by consulting other sources. To find a wiki in your subject area, use a specialized search engine such as wiki.com -Blogs: Many technical and scientific organizations, universities, and private companies sponsor blogs that offer useful information for researchers. Keep in mind that bloggers are not always independent voices. A Hewlett-Packard employee writing on a company-sponsored blog will likely be presenting the company's viewpoint on the topic. Don't count on that blogger to offer objective views about products. Blogs sponsored by government and nonprofit agencies are more likely to be trustworthy. -Tagged content: Tags are descriptive keywords people use to categorize and label content such as blog entries, videos, podcasts, and images they post to the Internet or bookmarks they post to social-bookmarking sites. Tags can be one-word descriptors without spaces or punctuation (such as "sandiegozoo") or multiword descriptors (such as "San Diego Zoo"). Many social-media platforms have adopted the hashtag (#) as a way to tag an item to make it easier to find by searching. RSS Feeds: Repeatedly checking for new content on many different websites can be a time-consuming and haphazard way to research a topic. RSS (short for rich site summary or really simple syndication) technology allows readers to check just one place (such as a software program running on their computer or an email program) for alerts to new content posted on selected websites. Readers use a special type of software program called an RSS aggregator to be alerted by RSS feeds (notifications of new or changed content from sites of interest to them). With RSS feeds, the information comes to you; you don't have to search for it.

Conducting an Interview, how to prepare for your interview?

-Do your homework: If you ask questions that have already been answered in the professional literature, the respondent might become annoyed and uncooperative. -Prepare good questions: Good questions are clear, focused, and open. — Be clear. The respondent should be able to understand what you are asking. UNCLEAR: Why do you sell Trane products? CLEAR: What are the characteristics of Trane products that led you to include them in your product line? The unclear question can be answered in a number of unhelpful ways: "Because they're too expensive to give away" or "Because I'm a Trane dealer." — Be focused. The question must be narrow enough to be answered briefly. If you want more information, you can ask a follow-up question. UNFOCUSED: What is the future of the computer industry? FOCUSED: What will the American chip industry look like in 10 years? — Ask open questions. Your purpose is to get the respondent to talk. Don't ask a lot of questions that have yes or no answers. CLOSED: Do you think the federal government should create industrial partnerships? OPEN: What are the advantages and disadvantages of the federal government's creating industrial partnerships? Check your equipment: If you will be recording the interview, test your voice recorder or video camera to make sure it is operating properly.

What are the 4 phases for Experiments?

-Establishing a hypothesis: A hypothesis is an informed guess about the relationship between two factors. In a study relating gasoline octane and miles per gallon, a hypothesis might be that a car will get 5 percent better mileage with 89-octane gas than with 87-octane gas. -Testing the hypothesis: Usually, you need an experimental group and a control group. These two groups should be identical except for the condition you are studying: in the above example, the gasoline. The control group would be a car running on 87 octane. The experimental group would be an identical car running on 89 octane. The experiment would consist of driving the two cars over an identical course at the same speed — preferably in some sort of controlled environment — over a given distance, such as 1,000 miles. Then you would calculate the miles per gallon. The results would either support or refute your original hypothesis. -Analyzing the data: Do your data show a correlation — one factor changing along with another — or a causal relationship? For example, we know that sports cars are involved in more fatal accidents than sedans (there is a stronger correlation for sports cars), but we don't know what the causal relationship is — whether the car or the way it is driven is the important factor. -Reporting the data: When researchers report their findings, they explain what they did, why they did it, what they saw, what it means, and what ought to be done next.

Analysis of Social Media Data

-Every hour, tens of millions of posts are made on social media. A torrent of information is continuously coming online, and many organizations are working hard to sift through it to find useful insights. -Businesses are spending the most time on social-media research, trying to figure out what customers like and dislike about their products and services, learn what they want, and reinforce brand loyalty. Take the case of Nielsen, which for fifty years has been monitoring the TV viewing habits of Americans by distributing questionnaires and attaching devices to their TVs, and then selling the data it collects to TV networks and producers, who use the information to determine how much to charge advertisers. The problem at Nielsen is that many people don't watch TV on TV or they don't watch shows when they are broadcast. Now Nielsen also uses social-media analysis: gathering data by monitoring social media to listen in on what people are saying on Twitter, Facebook, and other services about different TV programs (DeVault, 2013). -But organizations other than businesses are analyzing social-media data, too. For instance, the U.S. Geological Survey created the Twitter Earthquake Detector (TED), a program to monitor Twitter for the use of the word earthquake. Why? Because they realized that when people experience earthquakes, a lot of them tweet about it. The Centers for Disease Control, a U.S. federal agency, analyzes keywords on social media to monitor the spread of diseases, such as the Zika virus, in the United States and around the world. According to one scientist, "The world is equipped with human sensors — more than 7 billion and counting. It's by far the most extensive sensor network on the planet. What can we learn by paying attention?" (McCaney, 2013). -How do you perform social-media data analysis? There are many software programs that can help you devise searches. Among the most popular is HootSuite, which includes tools for listening in on what people are saying about your company on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many other services. In addition, HootSuite helps you monitor and manage your company's social-media presence and provides analytics: demographic data about who is following your company, their attitudes, and their behaviors. Figure 6.4 shows a HootSuite dashboard, the screen that lets you view and manage all the information.

Writing to readers from different cultures (research)

-If you are doing research for a document that will be read by people from other cultures, think about what kinds of evidence your readers will consider appropriate. In many non-Western cultures, tradition or the authority of the person making the claim can be extremely important, in some cases more important than the kind of scientific evidence that is favored in Western cultures. -And don't forget that all people pay particular attention to information that comes from their own culture. If you are writing to European readers about telemedicine, for instance, try to find information from European authorities and about European telemedicine. This information will interest your readers and will likely reflect their cultural values and expectations.

Academic Research

-In academic research, your goal is to find information that will help answer a scholarly question: "To what extent do standardized tests contribute to the success of public elementary schools?" or "What effects do violent media have on teenagers?" Academic research questions are often more abstract than applied. That is, they seek information regarding the principles underlying a phenomenon. Academic research usually requires extensive secondary research: reading scholarly literature in academic journals and books. If you do primary research, as scientists do in labs, you do so only after you have conducted extensive secondary research.

Workplace Research

-In workplace research, your goal is to find information to help you answer a practical question: "Should we replace our sales staff's notebook computers with tablets?" or "What would be the advantages and disadvantages to our company of adopting a European-style privacy policy for customer information?" Workplace research questions frequently focus on improving a situation at a particular organization. These questions call for considerable primary research because they require you to learn about your own organization's processes and how the people in your organization would respond to your ideas. Sometimes, workplace research questions address the needs of customers or other stakeholders. You will need a thorough understanding of your organization's external community in order to effectively align your products or services with their needs

Inspections

-Inspections are like observations, but you participate more actively. For example, a civil engineer can determine what caused a crack in a foundation by inspecting the site: walking around, looking at the crack, photographing it and the surrounding scene, examining the soil. An accountant can determine the financial health of an organization by inspecting its financial records, perhaps performing calculations and comparing the data she finds with other data. -These professionals are applying their knowledge and professional judgment as they inspect a site, an object, or a document. Sometimes inspection techniques are more complicated. A civil engineer inspecting foundation cracking might want to test his hunches by bringing soil samples back to the lab for analysis. -When you carry out an inspection, do your homework beforehand. Think about how you will use the data in your document: will you need photographs or video files or computer data? Then prepare the materials and equipment you'll need to capture the data.

Interviews

-Interviews are extremely useful when you need information on subjects that are too new to have been discussed in the professional literature or are too narrow for widespread publication (such as local political questions). -What questions do you want to answer? Only when you know this can you begin to search for a person who can provide the information. -Who could provide this information? The ideal respondent is an expert willing to talk. Unless there is an obvious choice, such as the professor carrying out the research you are studying, use directories, such as local industrial guides, to locate potential respondents. You may also be able to find experts through your social-media network. -Is the person willing to be interviewed? Contact the potential respondent by phone or in writing and describe what kind of information you are seeking. If the person is not able to help you, he or she might be willing to refer you to someone who can. Explain why you have decided to ask him or her. (A compliment works better than admitting that the person you really wanted to interview is out of town.) Explain what you plan to do with the information, such as write a report or present a talk. Then, if the person is willing to be interviewed, set up an appointment at his or her convenience

Concluding the Interview

-Thank the respondent. -Ask for a follow-up interview. If a second meeting would be useful, ask to arrange one. -Ask for permission to quote the respondent. If you think you might want to quote the respondent by name, ask for permission now

Understanding research tools

-Library Catalogs: A library's catalog contains electronic records of its physical holdings — all of the books, journals, reports, and other print documents the library contains, as well as its nonprint materials such as audio and video recordings. To search for an item, consult the catalog's instructions, which explain how to limit your search by characteristics such as types of media, date of publication, and language. The instructions also explain how to use punctuation and words such as and, or, and not to focus your search effectively. -Online Databases: Most libraries subscribe to services, such as LexisNexis, ProQuest, InfoTrac, Gale Virtual Reference, and ERIC, that provide access to large databases of full-text journal articles, conference proceedings, newspapers, and other documents. Some databases have a specific focus within a field or subject matter. Check with a reference librarian — either in person or through a virtual chat — for guidance on the most useful and relevant databases for your needs. -Newspaper and periodical indexes: Indexes are similar to databases, but they typically contain only citation information for articles. If you locate an article title that sounds promising, you then need to track down the periodical through other means in order to access the full article. There are periodical indexes in any number of fields. The following brief list will give you a sense of the diversity of titles: — Applied Science & Technology Index — Business Source Premier — Engineering Village — National Newspaper Index — Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature -Abstract Services: Abstract services are like indexes but also provide abstracts: brief technical summaries of the articles. In most cases, reading the abstract will enable you to decide whether to seek out the full article. Some abstract services, such as Chemical Abstracts Service, cover a broad field, but many are specialized rather than general. -Web search engines: If you search the web effectively and efficiently, you can find reference materials such as dictionaries and encyclopedias that don't exist in print, online versions of magazines and journals, conversion calculators and other statistical software, current survey data, government documents, animations, audio and video podcasts, and many other kinds of information. -Reference works: Reference works include general dictionaries and encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, almanacs, atlases, and dozens of other research tools. These print and online works are especially useful when you are beginning a research project because they provide an overview of the subject and often list the major works in the field

Common types of questions used in questionnaires?

-Multiple choice Would you consider joining a company-sponsored sports team? Yes ____ No ____ The respondent selects one of the alternatives. -Likert scale The flextime program has been a success in its first year. strongly disagree __ __ __ __ __ __ strongly agree The respondent ranks the degree to which he or she agrees or disagrees with the statement. Using an even number of possible responses (six, in this case) increases your chances of obtaining useful data. With an odd number, many respondents will choose the middle response. -Semantic differential Logging on to the system simple __ __ __ __ __ __ difficult The description of the new desalinization process interesting __ __ __ __ __ __ boring The respondent registers a response along a continuum between a pair of opposing adjectives. Usually, these questions measure a person's feelings about a task, an experience, or an object. As with Likert scales, an even number of possible responses yields better data. -Ranking Please rank the following work schedules in order of preference. Put a 1 next to the schedule you would most like to have, a 2 next to your second choice, and so on. 8:00-4:30 ______ 8:30-5:00 ______ 9:00-5:30 ______ flexible ______ The respondent indicates the priority of a number of alternatives. -Short answer What do you feel are the major advantages of the new parts-requisitioning policy? 1._________________________________ 2._________________________________ 3._________________________________ The respondent writes a brief answer using phrases or sentences. -Short essay The new parts-requisitioning policy has been in effect for a year. How well do you think it is working? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Although essay questions can yield information you never would have found using closed-ended questions, you will receive fewer responses to them because answering them requires more effort. Also, essays cannot be quantified precisely, as data from other types of questions can. (Include an introductory explanation with the questionnaire. This explanation should clearly indicate who you are, why you are writing, what you plan to do with the information from the questionnaire, and when you will need it.)

Observations and Demonstrations

-Observation and demonstration are two common forms of primary research. When you observe, you simply watch some activity to understand some aspect of it. For instance, if you were trying to determine whether the location of the break room was interfering with work on the factory floor, you could observe the situation, preferably at different times of the day and on different days of the week. If you saw workers distracted by people moving in and out of the room or by sounds made in the room, you would record your observations by taking notes, taking photos, or shooting video of events. An observation might lead to other forms of primary research. You might, for example, follow up by interviewing some employees who could help you understand what you observed. -When you witness a demonstration (or demo), you are watching someone carry out a process. For instance, if your company was considering buying a conveyor belt sorter for its warehouse, you could arrange to visit a manufacturer's facility, where technicians would show how the sorter works. If your company was considering a portable machine, such as a laptop computer, manufacturers or dealers could demo their products at your facility. -When you plan to observe a situation or witness a demo, prepare beforehand. Write down the questions you need answered or the factors you want to investigate. Prepare interview questions in case you have a chance to speak with someone. Think about how you are going to incorporate the information you acquire into the document you will write. Finally, bring whatever equipment you will need (pen and paper, computer, camera, etc.) to the site of the observation or demo.

Questionnaires

-Questionnaires enable you to solicit information from a large group of people. You can send questionnaires through the mail, email them, present them as forms on a website, or use survey software (such as SurveyMonkey). To find software for conducting surveys, search for "survey software." Unfortunately, questionnaires rarely yield completely satisfactory results, for three reasons: -Some of the questions will misfire: Respondents will misinterpret some of your questions or supply useless answers. -You won't obtain as many responses as you want: The response rate will almost never exceed 50 percent. In most cases, it will be closer to 10 to 20 percent. -You cannot be sure the respondents are representative: People who feel strongly about an issue are much more likely to respond to questionnaires than are those who do not. For this reason, you need to be careful in drawing conclusions based on a small number of responses to a questionnaire. -When you send a questionnaire, you are asking the recipient to do you a favor. Your goal should be to construct questions that will elicit the information you need as simply and efficiently as possible. Asking Effective Questions to ask effective questions, follow two suggestions: -Use unbiased language: Don't ask, "Should U.S. clothing manufacturers protect themselves from unfair foreign competition?" Instead, ask, "Are you in favor of imposing tariffs on men's clothing?" -Be specific: If you ask, "Do you favor improving the safety of automobiles?" only an eccentric would answer no. Instead, ask, "Do you favor requiring automobile manufacturers to equip new cars with electronic stability control, which would raise the price by an average of $300 per car?"

What are the 2 common problems

-The effect of the research on the behavior you are studying: In studying the effects of the classroom seating arrangement, minimize the effects of your own presence. For instance, if you observe in person, avoid drawing attention to yourself. Also, make sure that the video camera is placed unobtrusively and that it is set up before the students arrive, so they don't see the process. Still, any time you bring in a camera, you cannot be sure that what you witness is typical -Bias in the recording and analysis of the data: Bias can occur because researchers want to confirm their hypotheses. In an experiment to determine whether students write differently on physical keyboards than on touch screens, a researcher might see differences where other people don't. For this reason, the experiment should be designed so that it is double-blind. That is, the students shouldn't know what the experiment is about so that they don't change their behavior to support or negate the hypothesis, and the data being analyzed should be disguised so that researchers don't know whether they are examining the results from the control group or the experimental group. For example, the documents produced on keyboards and touch screens should be printed out the same way. (conducting an experiment or field research is relatively simple; the hard part is designing your study so that it accurately measure what you want it to measure)

Be careful when using material/content from the Internet

-The most difficult kind of material to evaluate is user-generated content from the Internet — such as information on discussion forums or in blogs — because it rarely undergoes the formal review procedure used for books and professional journals. A general principle for using any information you find on the Internet is to be extremely careful. Because content is unlikely to have been reviewed before being published on a social-media site, use one or more trusted sources to confirm the information you locate. Some instructors do not allow their students to use blogs or wikis for their research. Check with your instructor to learn his or her policies.

Presenting Questionnaire Data in your document

-To decide where and how to present the data that you acquire from your questionnaire, think about your audience and purpose. Start with this principle: important information is presented and analyzed in the body of a document, whereas less important information is presented in an appendix (a section at the end that only some of your audience will read). Most often, different versions of the same information appear in the two places. -Typically, the full questionnaire data are presented in an appendix. If you can, present the respondents' data — the answers they provided — in the questionnaire itself, as shown here: 1. Approximately how many days per week do you eat lunch in the lunchroom? 0121162 183 124 95 4 2. At approximately what time do you eat in the lunchroom? 11:30-12:30 3, 12:00-1:00 26, 12:30-1:30 7, varies 23 -If you think your reader will benefit from analyses of the data, present such analyses. For instance, you could calculate the percentage for each response: for question 1, "12 people — 17 percent — say they do not eat in the cafeteria at all." Or you could present the percentage in parentheses after each number: "12 (17%)." -Selected data might then be interpreted in the body of the document. For instance, you might devote a few sentences or paragraphs to the data for one of the questions. The following example shows how a writer might discuss the data from question 2. -Question 2 shows that 26 people say that they use the cafeteria between noon and 1:00. Only 10 people selected the two other times: 11:30-12:30 or 12:30-1:30. Of the 23 people who said they use the cafeteria at various times, we can conclude that at least a third — 8 people — use it between noon and 1:00. If this assumption is correct, at least 34 people (26 + 8) use the cafeteria between noon and 1:00. This would explain why people routinely cannot find a table in the noon hour, especially between 12:15 and 12:30. To alleviate this problem, we might consider asking department heads not to schedule meetings between 11:30 and 1:30, to make it easier for their people to choose one of the less-popular times. -The body of a document is also a good place to discuss important nonquantitative data. For example, you might wish to discuss and interpret several representative textual answers to open-ended questions.

Conducting Secondary Research

-When you conduct secondary research, you are trying to learn what experts have to say about a topic. Whether an expert is a world-famous scientist revising an earlier computer model about the effects of climate change on agriculture in Europe or the head of your human-resources department checking company records to see how a new health-care law changed the way your company hired part-time workers last year, your goal is the same: to acquire the best available information — the most accurate, most unbiased, most comprehensive, and most current. -Sometimes you will do research in a library, particularly if you need specialized handbooks or access to online subscription services that are not freely available on the Internet. Sometimes you will do your research on the web. As a working professional, you might find much of the information you need in your organization's information center. An information center is an organization's library, a resource that collects different kinds of information critical to the organization's operations. Many large organizations have specialists who can answer research questions or who can get articles or other kinds of data for you

(Ethics Note) Reporting and Analyzing Data Honestly

-When you put a lot of time and effort into a research project, it's frustrating if you can't find the information you need or if the information you find doesn't help you say what you want to say. Your responsibility as a professional is to tell the truth. -If the evidence suggests that the course of action you propose won't work, don't omit that evidence or change it. Nor should you hide it in a place where readers may not see it. Rather, try to figure out why the evidence does not support your proposal. Present your explanation honestly and visibly. -If you can't find reputable evidence to support your claim that one device works better than another, don't just keep silent and hope your readers won't notice. Explain why you think the evidence is missing and how you propose to follow up by continuing your research. -If you make an honest mistake, you are a person. If you cover up a mistake, you're a dishonest person. If you get caught fudging the data, you could be an unemployed dishonest person. If you don't get caught, you're still a smaller person.

How to present data from an interview

-When you wish to present the data from an interview in a document you are preparing, include a transcript of the interview (or an excerpt from the interview). You will probably present the transcript as an appendix so that readers can refer to it but are not slowed down when reading the body of the document. You might decide to present brief excerpts from the transcript in the body of the document as evidence for points you make.

Field Research

-Whereas an experiment yields quantitative data that typically can be measured precisely, most field research is qualitative; that is, it yields data that typically cannot be measured precisely. Often in field research, you seek to understand the quality of an experience. For instance, you might want to understand how a new seating arrangement affects group dynamics in a classroom. You could design a study in which you observed and shot video of classes and interviewed the students and the instructor about their reactions to the new arrangement. Then you could do the same in a traditional classroom and compare the results. -Some kinds of studies have both quantitative and qualitative elements. In the case of classroom seating arrangements, you could include some quantitative measures, such as the number of times students talked with one another. You could also distribute questionnaires to elicit ratings by the students and the instructor. If you used these same quantitative measures on enough classrooms, you could gather valid quantitative information.

Understanding the Research Process

-Whether you're conducting academic research or workplace research your main goal is to answer a question

After the Interview

-Write down the important information while the interview is fresh in your mind. (This step is unnecessary, of course, if you have recorded the interview.) If you will be printing a transcript of the interview, make the transcript now. -Send a brief thank-you note. Within a day or two, send a note showing that you appreciate the respondent's courtesy and that you value what you have learned. In the note, confirm any previous offers you have made, such as to send the respondent a copy of your final document.

Regardless of academic and workplace research (primary/secondary research) the goal is?

-to find answers to your questions effectively and efficiently (Remember that you might also need to perform additional research as you draft, revise, edit, and proofread the technical communication that results from your research. Whenever you need additional information to help you make your argument clear and persuasive, do more research)

-You will consult websites, blogs, and discussion forums, and you might listen to podcasts or watch videos. Sometimes you will interview people, and you will likely distribute surveys electronically to acquire information from customers and suppliers. Regardless of which technique you use, your challenge will be to sort the relevant information from the irrelevant, and the accurate from the bogus.

How you will conduct research using a variety of methods