Participants

The participant pool for both studies was the same, however for the second study I randomly selected (in stratified categories) eight participants from the pool. The large participant pool used for the first study and reduced for the second, consisted of ninety undergraduate college students at a west Texas land grant university. These students were from six classes of English 1302, the second semester class of the first-year composition program. They were chosen because they were similar to the students whose MOO statements make up the survey. The survey was composed of statements from two class MOOs. The classes were comprised of students at the same university and taking the first semester class of first-year composition program. On average, the survey/interview participants only differ from the original MOOers by half of a semester of college (I say this because the MOOs occurred mid-semester fall 1999 and this research spring 2000). These students have the same general context as the students who participated in the MOO.