Sustaining webs of connections: A qualitative meta-analysis of research in professional writing (1970–2006)
Abstract
This project contributes to the ongoing discussion about the future of professional writing as a research discipline by offering a comprehensive understanding of previous research that prompts thinking about the “what” and “how” of future research. It reports the results of a qualitative meta-analysis that examines a proportional stratified random sample of 97 empirical studies published between 1970 and 2006 in major journals in the field and book-length collections. Based on a Burkean close reading of each individual study in the sample and using the pentadic ratios to draw connections among these studies, this project offers three competing and complimentary “meta-pictures” of professional writing research from three theoretical perspectives within the social camp: social constructionist, ideologic, and paralogic hermeneutic. The project is distinguished from previous attempts at synthesizing existing research by its attention and sensitivity to the rhetorical situatedness of research. It highlights the context of professional writing research in the five Burkean dimensions of act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose and directs attention to issues and concerns that would otherwise be neglected in traditional meta-analysis focusing on findings alone. Based on the three meta-pictures, the project concluded with a set of vision statements developed around a few key words identified in the meta-analysis. These key words would serve as useful starting points for engaged and responsive conversations among members of the research community of professional writing toward developing cohesive yet flexible agendas for future research.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Sullivan, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Rhetoric
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.