Re: WC Research

[Harvey_Kail@umit.maine.edu (Harvey Kail)]

    	  I  appreciate the comments that have come in so far on
conducting research in the Writing Center. I hope there are more as I
am finding both solace and inspiration.
	 Neal Learner makes a good point when he says that it shouldn't be the
methodology that drives the research but rather the question that is
being posed.  What does one want to find out? While I agree with this
in principle, in practice I can't help thinking that because I do work
everyday (and everyday and everyday) in a writing center, I need to
finally develop a research modality that takes into account the unique
environment of the writing center itself, with its emphasis on one to
one collaborations, on revision, on the processes of academic
acculturation, etc.-- events and practices which get repeated over and
over and over in front of my face every day.   It seems to me that the
question isn't exactly what one wants to know,  but rather what will
one's setting most likely permit one to find out. 	Given the strengths
and limitations and unique rituals of the writing center setting, what
type of research questions most lend themselves to being answered here? 
	 I hope that doesn't sound overly mercenary.  It does seem to me,
though, that the question of methodology is inextricably linked to the
kind of questions that get asked and that those questions necessarily
get shaped by the research setting in which they are enacted.  I feel
as though I have not successfully integrated systematic research
practices into our center, except for the work we do on evaluating our
services.  In fact I can't say I've ever really tried.  Is it possible,
useful, appropriate to reconceive the writing center as a center for
systematic research on an equal footing with its mission to provide an
occasion for tutoring and teaching? Has anyone done it?
	
Harvey Kail
University of Maine