Methods and Methodology in Composition Research

In original essays, fourteen nationally known scholars examine the practical, philosophical, and epistemological implications of a variety of research traditions. Included are discussions of historical, theoretical, and feminist scholarship; case-study and ethnographic research; text and conversation analysis; and cognitive, experimental, and descriptive research. Issues that cross methodological boundaries, such as the nature of collaborative research and writing, methodological pluralism, the classification and coding of research data, and the politics of composition research, are also examined. Contributors reflect on their own research practices, and so reflect the current state of composition research itself.

Gesa Kirsch is assistant professor of English at Wayne State University. She is coeditor of A Sense of Audience in Written Communication.

Patricia A. Sullivan is assistant professor of English and associate director of composition at the University of New Hampshire.