Purpose
The purpose of this course is for students to (a) familiarize students with the various forms of analysis of communication (because all data involve communication) and (b) produce a (near) publishable analysis of a given dataset.
Philosophy
All research involving human beings involves communication. Being able to analyze communication therefore is a primary issue in the process of becoming a research. It is through your own analyses that you will see the relevance of the descriptions found in the textbook.
Throughout this course, we engage in two types of activities: (a) reading and talking (about) major analytic methods and (b) learning to use these methods by producing an analysis of (near) publishable quality. These two activities stand in a dialectical and reflexive relation that constitutes each of the two sides.
Process
In this course, we will read and discuss the course text, which exemplifies major approaches to the analysis of communication. We will utilize these approaches in the production of analyses
For each meeting, students will read assigned chapters from the textbook. From the beginning, students will work toward producing the analysis that will constitute their major assignment.
Tentative Outline
A tentative outline is available online, easily reachable from my home page (www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth). The outline may be modified to meet specific and changing needs of the students and instructor. Specific and detailed lesson outlines and additional information will be made in an ongoing manner. [Tentative and Developing Outline]
Textbook and Readings
The text for this course is Roth, W.-M and Hsu, P-L., Analyzing Communication (Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2010). (ISBN 978-94-6091-089-0 paperback). The students will do additional readings that are required as theoretical background in the production of their course assignment.
Assignments
There are four types of participation. First, students will read the assigned chapters from the textbook. Second, the students actively contribute to the class discussions. Third, the students will continuously engage in data analysis and cumulative (process) writing; students will be presenting from their continuing analysis. (Students may ask for feedback throughout the course to assure students will be able to produce a text of the highest quality possible. Fourth, from the process writing, students will produce a major assignment in which they present their analysis of the data sources. Publishable quality pieces will be considered for inclusion in a book. The texts should therefore reflect this orientation toward making a contribution to a book rather than becoming a journal article.
Course Grade
The course grade is made up of class participation (20%) and major assignment (80%).
Appointments
Appointments are made by special arrangement sufficiently in advance. You may find it more convenient to write an email, which in most cases, deals with many issues. Also email me at least a day or two advance for any special appointment (mroth at uvic dot ca). You may also arrange for an iCHAT (AOL) or Skype video-mediated meeting, which means you do not even have to leave where you are working at the moment.
Students are to find background readings that contextualize their particular analysis. For example, a student who does a feminist analysis of the data sources provided will contextualize her/his analysis in the appropriate feminist (sociological, cultural studies) literature.
In this assignment, you show the extent to which you have become competent in data analysis and in the presentation of the analysis in the context of a scholarly text (introduction, analysis, discussion, conclusion). The text should have the structure of a chapter contribution to a larger project. The data provided contain interviews with high school students concerning their visions of future careers generally and with respect to science specifically.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to write a text that would make a chapter in a book on high school students' discourse about their future careers. Students will look at all or parts of the dataset provided. Your final text should exhibit that you not only know about analysis and the relevant background discourses. The length of the resulting text is upwards of 5,000 words. Your text provides evidence that you have read additional materials, which you reference appropriately in APA 5th style. In general, your paper should have all the parts that atypical chapter has; and it should show evidence that you have developed competence in writing in the scholarly genre.
Evaluation Criteria
Any creative work is inherently difficult to evaluate. I know from the peer review process that an article may be rejected by one (or more) reviewer and be unconditionally accepted or accepted with minor revisions by another (or more) reviewers. Above all, an article has to be convincing and has a logical structure. A sample assignment that received an A+ can be found [here].
A typical evaluation grid that a journal such as the Canadian Journal of Education would use looks like this:
Excellent |
Very Good |
Good |
Poor |
|
1. Contribution to advancement of knowledge in education |
... | ... | ... | ... |
2. Originality |
... | ... | ... | ... |
3. Method |
... | ... | ... | ... |
a. Central question |
... | ... | ... | ... |
b. Theoretical framework |
... | ... | ... | ... |
c. Data analysis |
... | ... | ... | ... |
d. Interpretation |
... | ... | ... | ... |
e. Substantiation |
... | ... | ... | ... |
4. Structure of the argument |
... | ... | ... | ... |
5. Conclusion |
... | ... | ... | ... |
6. References (APA 5th style) |
... | ... | ... | ... |
Submission
Your assignment is due April 15, 2009, that is, 1 week after class ends. The assignment is to be submitted electronically to my email (mroth at uvic dot ca) in DOC or DOCX (Word) format using the template provided.