Week 7: July 1, 2025

Topics
Methods: Usability testing; experiments
Practice: relationship between question and literature review; positionality

Read for Class:

  • A-Z entry on experimental design and quasi-experimental design in Sage Communication
  • Lam, C., & Wolfe, J. (2022). An Introduction to Quasi-Experimental Research for Technical and Professional Communication Instructors. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 37(2), 174-193. https://doi.org/10.1177/10506519221143111
  • Usability testing from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usability_testing
  • Trade/commercial insights into usability testing: https://www.usertesting.com/resources/guides/usability-testing
  • Lit review blog
  • A-Z entry on researcher-participant relationships in the Sage Qualitative
  • Melonçon Chapter 2 (has an overture to positionality AND it is detailed explanation on the type of research that I did. This would be similar to what your own dissertations will include in Chapter 3.)
  • https://atlasti.com/research-hub/positionality-statements-qualitative-research (note, that Atlas.TI is a qualitative analysis software. I chose this brief overview because it was a little more generic than some found in specific fields.)

Do for class:

  • Find an article or book chapter that aligns with your ongoing research interests that reports empirical results. Take a look ONLY at the introduction and the literature review. What kind of literature review is it doing? Can you see how the literature review opens space for the question being asked or said another how does the lit review set up the research question? Post your citation and a quick overview of the relationship between question and literature review in this weeks’ google folder in our class drive.
  • Find a different article, book chapter in edited collection or book that has some reference to the researcher’s positionality. It is likely these will be found in reports of qualitative research. N.B. For those of you who took histories of rhetoric, you CANNOT use Sanchez’s. 😉 Post your citation and copy a key quote from where the author discusses their positionality.

In class:

  • Quick discussion of Usability testing (products, systems, and information; delivery is key)
  • Discussion of quasi-experiments
  • Relationship of literature review to the question
  • positionally of the researcher
    • how does the impact the research practice and method
  • what do I know? how do I know it? (relates to both the lit review and your own positionality)