Research Methods: Project Proposal Ideas

I just started in the PhD program at TTU last semester, and Research Methods is only my second class. I also recently took a new job, as editor of Intercom for the Society of Technical Communication. Even though I feel I am thoroughly immersed in TC these days, I am a little stumped by what project to work on for this class. I have some general interests though:

Because of my editorial background and experience, I'd like to study TCers who consider themselves editors, or editors who consider themselves TCers. I'm curious about the style guides different editors create and use and the choices they make for their work. I think this is also related to global v. English language concerns.

A related topic is to study the various TC magazines to find out what topics we are publishing in order to determine what topics are emergent within the field. Some questions I've asked include: Do the publisher, editor, and reader agree on subject matter? If not, how can readers become more involved in the process? With the advent of electronic editing, have editors become information architects and content managers, and how do authors handle electronic editing? With increasingly detailed computer applications to assist with writing and editing, what are the current perceptions of electronic editing in both the workplace and freelance environments? Do organizational cultures continue to mediate perceptions of electronic editing according to their priorities and established practices? Who is responsible for factual accuracy—editors or authors? Is easy access to potentially faulty information provided on the Internet (e.g., Wikipedia) a factor with editing today? For this project, I could assist STC with conducting a survey of TC and Intercom readers and authors to find out whether they think we are addressing their needs.

On a completely different theme, I'm also interested in studying technical documentation intended for children. Part of my master's degree concentrated on children’s literature, and I am still quite fascinated by documents designed specifically for children—websites, books, magazines, textbooks, instructions. Children’s documents, usually consisting of a collaboration between both visual and verbal elements (picture and pop-up books being interesting exceptions), have been a significant testing ground for innovative document design. Design becomes the framework for the text and illustrations, providing the visual shape of a text. In recent years, graphic designers have had an increasingly important role in the creation of children’s documents by contributing to the overall look, tone, and reception of the text. Why has there been this increase in the role designers are playing? Are there established standards and guidelines for designing children’s documents? How do adult document designers create documents for children? In this project, I'd be interested in examining the often-overlooked function of designers and the influence of design and typographical elements in children’s documents. How do the designer and the design elements contribute to the rhetoric of a children’s document? I believe answers to these questions from the TC community are long overdue.

The next step will be to pass these ideas off to Dr. Rickly to see if she thinks any of these topics would be good avenues to pursue.