Content Analysis as a Best Practice in Technical Communication Research    

Content analysis is a powerful empirical method for analyzing text, a method that technical communicators can use on the job and in their research. Content analysis can expose hidden connections among concepts, reveal relationships among ideas that initially seem unconnected, and inform the decision-making processes associated with many technical communication practices. In this article, we explain the basics of content analysis methodology and dispel common misconceptions, report on a content analysis case study, reveal the most important objectives associated with conducting high quality content analyses, and summarize the implications of content analysis as a tool for technical communicators and researchers.

Thayer, Alexander, Mary Evans, Alicia McBride, Matt Queen and Jan Spyridakis. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>TC>Assessment

Towards a Sense of Ethics for Technical Communication

Many articles from recent decades begin with the assumption that technical communicators do not have much power to make ethical decisions about their work. We need to start with a basic understanding of the relationships that technical communicators build with that audience in their work and identify ways in which those relationships might have ethical implications.

McBride, Alicia. Orange Journal, The (2002). Articles>TC>Ethics