Assignments: Interpretive Inquiry (EDCI 580)

Due date of complete version: last day of class

Assignment Description

This assignment was designed both as a context for learning how to do interpretive inquiry and as an evaluation of what you know and can do. The whole class collectively engages in one project and shares data, which should be used by all others to see that their interpretive categories hold/do not hold in cases other than their own. All assignments outlined in the lesson-by-lesson description contribute to the final assignment in an incremental manner. As a result, students will

• engage in background reading to prepare research design,
• engage in class discussions to design research, plan interview questions, practice interview skills
• conduct 2 one-hour interviews and prepare transcriptions thereof,
• engage in interpretive data analysis both collectively (in class) and individually (or with partner, as per below),
• receive feedback on draft interpretations of their data and draft versions of their paper
• draw conclusions,
• and write a final paper in which you present your results.

As outcome of the process, you

• prepare a paper that is in the form of of published articles, that is, contains the major sections of introduction, purpose, theory/background, methods, results, conclusions, and references -- though you may actually chose more descriptive titles appropriate for your paper;
• search for, read, and submit abstracts of at least 4 articles (due dates see lesson-by-lesson outline) pertaining to the theme of water shortage [in Victoria]; present your summaries of these articles to class;
• do additional reading concerning the theme and research methods and include this in the final written piece;
• collect data in the form of two interviews and, if applicable, (video-) ethnographic data (should be submitted -- two (2) transcripts [anonymized], copies of articles, whatever you used as "data");
• share transcripts with others in class through password-protected website;
• participate in whole-class and small-group discussion and data analyses;
• make sure that final paper conforms to APA 4th edition style; and
• submit your paper electronically including scanned documents, transcribed interviews. Format should be WORD, rtf, or pdf files.

You may want to work with no more than one partner. If you choose to do a collaborative paper, the final product should provide evidence of the work of two people -- more data (3 interviews are required), double the amount of readings, more of everything. The advantage of collaborative work resides in the opportunities for critical analysis of your own work.

Evaluation

Scholarship is inherently difficult to evaluate -- a published article can be considered a published article. I therefore begin from the principle that all students get an A-. A lower grade shall be assigned only if there is, for example, evidence that additional methodological and background readings have not been done, additional data have not been collected, writing is sloppy, APA style evidently not been followed, etc.

The grades A and A+ are reserved for exemplary and outstanding work, respectively (as per faculty evaluation policy). For example, to receive an A+, a student or student pair has to submit a paper that is at or near publishable quality. Similarly, to receive an A, the paper has to show clear promise to be, with further rounds of revisions, to come to or be near publishable quality.

A sample assignment submitted to a previous course is available as EXAMPLE. (This particular paper was in fact subsequently published.)

Another sample assignment done by a six-student class was ultimately submitted for publication. You can see how the paper developed, its different versions, the reviewers' comments, and the final accepted version by folling this link: Senanus water problems.

Process

If you would like specific feedback, if you have questions, etc. please send request to mailto:mroth@uvic.ca and do not forget to attach your draft analyses (paper, texts) as WORD or rtf documents.