Welcome to RC Research Methods

The purpose of the research methods course for rhetoric and composition, seen from one perspective, is to prepare students to engage as researchers in the field. Basically, this means that we can consume research—i.e., read (and critique) research in the field—and create research—i. e., create research questions, determine a fitting research design, select appropriate methodologies, and complete the research, understanding in the process the limitations inherent in any research project. Seen from another perspective, however, this kind of research course continually poses and seeks to answer the question, how do we make knowledge, specifically in rhetoric and composition? Such a question is located in research questions as well as in methods. Typically, a discipline is defined by its methods, and at the same time, many fields import methods from other fields. This question of knowledge-making is thus both vexed and intriguing, given r/c’s long-standing interest in interdisciplinary approaches, nearly all of which you’ll find in this course. Seen from a third perspective, this course also introduces you to at least some of the more “invisible” mechanisms that regulate knowledge-making, for example peer review. At the conclusion of this course, then, you will be able to read and talk back to research; to understand the scholarly practices through which the knowledge that “counts” gets made; to create your own research designs (though not in all areas) and begin to carry them out.