Methodology

Many social scientists are calling for the study of online environments. Escobar (1994), "Any technology can be studied anthropologically from a variety of perspectives -- the rituals it originates, the social relations it helps to create, [and] the practices developed" (p. 214). He notes that the study of online environments should "start as a rather traditional ethnographic project: to describe . . . what is happening in terms of the emerging practices and transformations [of practices]" (p. 216).

Using a case study conceptual framework as the basis of this research is an attempt to "focus on descriptions of what people experience and how it is that they experience what they experience" (Patton, 1990, p. 69). This type of research, commonly known as ethnography, is the study of culture (Patton, 1990). However, divergent theoretical and philosophical viewpoints within ethnography lead to different rationales and orientations. While all qualitative research may attempt to address Weber's (1947) insistence that when we study humans, we must do so through individuals, these paradigms differ in "their conceptualizations of what is important to ask and consider elucidating and understanding the empirical world" (Patton, p. 67). Case study inquiry is one such paradigm.

"In general case studies are the preferred strategy when "how" or "why" questions are being posed, when the investigator has little control over events, and when the focus is on a contemporary phenomenon with some real-life context" (Yin, 1989, p. 130). According to Bogdan and Taylor (1975), we should "not reduce subjects to isolated variables or to mere members of a culture but that we allow researchers to study people as they define and first experience abstract concepts and physical phenomena" (Davis, 1995, p. 135). The question which drives the researcher is not arrived at inductively or deductively. It may arise out of the researcher's own lived experience or an experience that has touched her/him deeply. After teaching first-year composition to online students, I wondered how students met the demands of the online first-year-college class and what their experience were. This inquiry led me to previous research which helped clarify my role as researcher.

Case study seeks to discover, clarify, and understand crucial dimensions of knowledge and experience through the collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves. It looks closely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. This not an area of causal experimentation, and the results of such inquiry will not be generalizable. Although the process of discovering the answer may be intensely researcher-centered, the rigor and care the researcher applies toward her process will place emphasis on exploration and description, producing results that reveal the "mystery" of the experience.
Yin's (1989) explanations of the types of questions can be explored through the case study framework. Three conditions must be considered for different research strategies: "(a) the type of question posed, (b) the extent of control the investigator has over the situation, and (c) the degree of focus on contemporary as opposed to historical events" (p. 16).

Evaluating my research questions, I found that the questions were both exploratory and explanatory, as I wanted to focus on explaining and exploring pertinent experiences over a specified amount of time, not just viewing one or two isolated events. In addition, the situation was contemporary, and I had no control over the events nor participants. Thus, I discovered that the case study approach was appropriate for this project since the case study should be used when, "A 'how' or 'why' question is being asked about a contemporary set of events, over which the investigator has little or no control" (p. 20). Moreover, in the field of rhetoric, the case study research of Emig (1971) and Flower and Hayes (1984) are paramount.
Four hypotheses were established and studied based on data analyzed in Emig's (1971) study of the composing process of eight twelfth graders.

1. Twelfth grade writers engage in two modes of composing: The reflexive mode, which focuses on the writer's thoughts and feelings and the extensive mode, which focuses on conveying a message.
2. Differences can be ascertained and characterized through having the writers compose aloud their composition process.
3. A set of implied stylistic principles governs the writing process.
4. Extensive writing occurs chiefly as a school-sponsored activity, or reflexive, as a self-sponsored activity.

This seminal study helped change the field of rhetoric during a pivotal time in its history.

Subsections of Chapter III in Order of Apperance
[Research Design] [Data Analysis] [Embedded Units] [Limitations of Study]
[Researcher Bias] [Interpretive Method] [Case Selection]
[Methological Assumptions]

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Last Updated 10/20/01

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