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Articles Conference Reviews |
Qualitative Research NetworkQualitative Research Network (with Keynote Speaker Ellen Barton) If the level of noise in the room during the roundtable part of the Qualitative Research Network (QRN) is any indication, then this year’s event was a huge success. Chaired by Seth Kahn and Heidi McKee, the QRN allows both novice and experienced qualitative researchers in Rhetoric and Composition to discuss and develop a research project of interest. As the CFP for the 2010 QRN describes, “The goal of this annual workshop is to offer mentoring and support to qualitative researchers at all levels of experience and working in diverse areas of study within the college composition and communication community.” The format of the QRN enables participants to discuss their projects at some length with experienced qualitative researchers. The event serves in particular as an unparalleled opportunity for novice researchers to network with other qualitative researchers and to interact with important voices in the field. Ellen Barton, Director of Composition at Wayne State University, delivered this year’s keynote address. A noted linguist and discourse analyst, Barton offered the talk “If I Knew Then What I Know Now,” highlighting a step-by-step process of self-questioning by which qualitative researchers could “find their niche” in the field. Barton supported her presentation with an easy to follow handout—the “research tree”—by which qualitative researchers could discover initial connections between their specializations, research interests, the projects they construct, and their larger research agendas. The questions on Barton’s research tree highlighted the descriptive nature of effective research and the goal oriented nature of research programs. Drawing examples from her own research on medical decision-making, Barton demonstrated the ways that researchers could return to the central questions on the research tree to focus their research programs. Barton urged qualitative researchers to clarify their purpose(s) as researchers, by seeking out “good, concrete questions” to how and what their research efforts might illuminate for the field. Barton also reminded researchers to “love the process of revision,” a note that illustrated the recursive nature of the research process whereby the researcher must cycle through their larger questions working toward the specificity of their findings over time. Barton’s “tree” was a well wrought tool, especially for new researchers to articulate their broader research agenda as professionals and to “embrace the commitment and mess of qualitative research.” Following the keynote, participants were grouped according to topics and placed at tables where they presented their projects and received feedback/direction from other participants and an experienced qualitative researcher. This year’s table topics represented the increasing diversity of the field of composition, communication, and writing studies more generally. Table topics focused on the publication of ethnographic inquiry, queer/ing qualitative research, literacies and rhetoric in non-academic communities, multimodal and digital writing, discourses of health, science, and identity, writing pedagogy, and writing program and writing center administration. The discussion facilitators included the following scholars: Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater (North Carolina State U); Will Banks (East Carolina University); Beverly Moss (Ohio State U); David Seitz (Wright State U); Kevin Roozen (Auburn U); Ellen Barton (Wayne State); Seth Kahn (West Chester U); and Heidi McKee (Miami U). Afternoon discussions at each table were animated and intensive. Next year’s QRN will be overseen by incoming chairs Gwen Gorzelsky (Wayne State U) and Kevin Roozen (Auburn U). Gorzelsky is the author of The Language of Experience: Literate Practices and Social Change, a work that explores the relationship between literacy and personal as well as social change. Gorzelsky is an advocate for university-wide initiatives in community-based education and service learning, and she has published in College Composition and Communication, Reflections, and JAC. Kevin Roozen’s work employs longitudinal ethnographic methods to explore the interconnected nature of identity, practices of literacy, and multi-modality. He has published in Text and Talk, Kairos, the Journal of Basic Writing, College Composition and Communication, and Research in the Teaching of English. As a participant in this year’s QRN, I would like to thank Seth Kahn and Heidi McKee for their work in past years—organizing an event like the QRN at a major national conference must be a labor of love. Few venues at CCCC offer the opportunity for new researchers to discuss works in progress in such an intimate and supportive environment. On behalf of the participants who will benefit from this free and accessible event in coming years, I’d like to welcome Gwen Gorzelsky and Kevin Roozen. |