Data Analysis, Interpretation, and Theory in Literacy Studies Research

This research guide addresses the difficulties novice and early career researchers often have with understanding how theory, data analysis and interpretation of findings “hang together” in a well-designed and theorized qualitative research investigation, as well as learning how to draw on such understanding to conduct rigorous data analysis and interpretation of their analytic results. Books that describe data analysis approaches and methods often fail to address the question of how to decide which ones are most appropriate for a particular kind of study, and why they are the best options. This book seeks to clarify these issues in a distinctive way. Chapter authors draw on a successful study they have undertaken and spell out their “problem area,” research questions, and theoretical framing, carefully explaining their choices and decisions. They then show in detail how they analyzed their data, and why they took this approach. Finally, they demonstrate how they “translated” or interpreted the results of their analysis, to make them meaningful in research terms. Approaches include interactional sociolinguistics, microethnographic discourse analysis, multimodal analysis, iterative coding, conversation analysis, and multimediated discourse analysis, among others. This book will appeal to beginning researchers and to literacy researchers responsible for teaching qualitative literacy studies research design at undergraduate and graduate levels.

Perfect for courses such as: Literacy Research Seminar | Introduction to Qualitative Research | Advanced Research Methods | Studying New Literacies and Media | Research Perspectives in Literacy | Discourse Analysis | Advanced Qualitative Data Analysis | Sociolinguistic Analysis | Classroom Language Research

Dedication

Acknowledgments

1. Data Analysis, Interpretation, and Theory in Literacy Studies Research
Michele Knobel, Judy Kalman, and Colin Lankshear

2. Microethnographic Discourse Analysis Research for Transforming Classroom Education
Sanghee Ryu and David Bloome

3. Conversation Analysis and the Study of Social Interaction
Aaron Chia Yuan Hung

4. Using Mediated Discourse Analysis to Investigate Literacy Practices
Ryan Rish

5. Exploring Multimodal Literacy in Language Teaching and Learning
Ingrid K. Jakobsen and Elise Seip Tønnessen

6. Tracing Opportunities for Learning Across Times, Events, and Configurations of Participants: Interactional Ethnography as a Logic of Inquiry
Maria Lucia Castanheira, Beth V. Yeager, and Judith L. Green

7. Examining Qualitative Data Using Spreadsheets: Constructing Analytical Narratives Around Talk, Action, and Practice
Judy Kalman, Patricia Valdivia, and Victor Rendón

8. Methodology for Liberation: Doing Collaborative Participatory Research With Community
Joanne Larson and George Moses

9. Theorizing With (a) Difference: Fanfiction, Literacy, and Neurodiversity
Allison Dziuba, Rebecca W. Black, and Jonathan Alexander

10. Following Texts, Bodies, and Objects in Everyday Practice: Thinking With Actor Network Theory
Jason F. Lovvorn and Kevin M. Leander

11. Design, Theory, Analysis, and Interpretation in a Study of Early Internet Memes
Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel

Contributors

Name Index

Subject Index