Category: Methodology

Research ethics: Gender as a variable in NLP

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I’ve previously posted on the talk I’m giving today (April 4) at EACL in Valencia. This post provides the slides with the accompanying notes. (If you are reading this before US Eastern bedtime on April 4, it may not be the final version, as I’m editing the slides while watching the earlier presentations during the day.) Here, again, for your reading pleasure, is the abstract of the paper I submitted at EACL, but note that the last couple slides go far afield of the specific paper… Researchers in natural-language processing (NLP) and related fields should at- tend to ethical principles Read More …

“Gender as a variable in writing studies: Ethics and methodology” at WRAB in Bogotá

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Organizers of the Writing Research Across Borders (WRAB) IV conference in Bogotá Colombia in February 2017 accepted my proposal to present a paper. I’ve paid my registration and booked my travel. I intend to have a near-final draft of a journal article ready for the conference; I hope to make a few final edits if I get good feedback there and ship it off the week after I return. I’m also looking forward to a couple days of kicking around with my spouse in Bogotá, which looks like an amazing city. Here is the abstract for my paper: Gender as Read More …

Use What You Choose, article posted on ACM

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ACM has published the Proceedings of the 34th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication (September 2016 SIGDOC ’16), including our article, “Use What You Choose: Applying Computational Methods to Genre Studies in Technical Communication.” My co-authors are William Hart-Davidson, Kenneth C. Walker, Douglas M. Walls, and  Ryan Omizo. Our article is available for free download here: Use What You Choose: Applying Computational Methods to Genre Studies in Technical Communication Brian Larson, William Hart-Davidson, Kenneth C. Walker, Douglas M. Walls, Ryan Omizo SIGDOC ’16 Proceedings of the 34th ACM International Conference on the Design of Communication, 2016 http://dl.acm.org/authorizestats?N27786

Readings for November 22 in 8011

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We had four readings for this week, focused on feminist criticism and theory in technical communication research: MacNealy, M. S. (1998). Qualitative Research with Special Lenses: Feminist and Teacher Research (Chapter 12). In Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing. Longman. Schuster, M. L. (2006). A Different Place to Birth: A Material Rhetoric Analysis of Baby Haven, a Free-Standing Birth Center. Women’s Studies in Communication, 29(1), 1-38. doi:Article Schuster, M.L. (writing as Lay, M. M.) (2002). Feminist Criticism and Technical Communication Research. In L. J. Gurak & M. M. Lay (Eds.), Research in Technical Communication: Ablex Publishing. Discussed in a previous Read More …

Readings for Nov 8 in 8011

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On November 8, we are having a visit from Dr. Carol Berkenkotter to talk about textual analysis. The readings for this week generally center around that topic. MacNealy MacNealy, M. S. (1998). Discourse or Text Analysis (Chapter 7). In Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing. Longman. In this book chapter, Mary Sue MacNealy provides an overview of discourse and text analysis, setting out the reasons scholars choose these methods, decisions scholars make to employ them, examples of their use, and their advantages and disadvantages. MacNealy uses the terms “discourse” and “text” interchangeably to refer to oral, written, and graphic materials Read More …

Reflections on 8011 readings for November 1

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This week’s readings focus on case study research and Internet research. First, there are method “how-to” notes from Gurak & Silker, Marshall & Rossman, and MacNealy. Then two studies, one by Gurak and one by Ding. Gurak and Silker Gurak, L. J., & Silker, C. M. (2002). Technical communication research in cyberspace. In L. J. Gurak & M. M. Lay (Eds.), Research in Technical Communication: Ablex Publishing. The authors take up issues of TC research in cyberspace, but as the book is from 2002, it seems some of the observations may be a little dated. Their stated purpose is “to Read More …

Reflections on October 18 readings for 8011

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I didn’t think I’d have time to write a reflection on this week’s readings, as we have a big assignment due in 8011 tonight. As it happens, though, I’ve managed to get the assignment mostly completed and I’ve managed to get through this week’s readings to boot. So, here are my reflections: MacNealy, Chapters 4 & 5 MacNealy, M. S. (1998). Strategies for Empirical Research in Writing. Longman. I feel like my feet are touching ground again, after a couple of weeks focused on cultural studies and critical methods. MacNealy offers a very practical overview of basic issues in quantitative Read More …