Quality Control in Scholarly Publishing on the Web  

As scholars and researchers, we are often called upon to separate the high-quality materials from the bad. What are the methods by which quality control is established and what are the indicators that allow a user to recognize the good materials?

Arms, William Y. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2002). Articles>Publishing>Research>Online

Reducing Reliance on Superstition

Probably the most well-known article in the fields of usability, user interface design and user experience is Miller’s 1956 paper entitled 'The magical number seven, plus or minus two.' It is incredible how this article has lasted for over 40 years, and still seems to influence many design decisions. More recent, better research is available, but not being used.

Bailey, Robert. Human Factors International (2000). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Research>Cognitive Psychology

Research And Technology Stem Overview  

The Research and Technology stem offers 47 sessions in the areas of usability, online documentation, hypertext and multimedia, the Internet, advancing technology, and academic research--including a few miscellaneous topics. As much as possible, the sessions in each area have been scheduled in different time slots.

Dean, Morris. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Usability>Research>Education

Research and Technology Stem Overview  

It's always interesting looking back at the evolution of a profession. By reviewing the past, you can gain new and important insight for the future. how to plan for multinational considerations, from document translation to user interfaces.

See, Edward J.P. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Technology>Research

Research Methods Course Work for Students Specializing in Business and Technical Communication    

Research activity is an integral component in the formation of professions. Evidence shows that business and technical communication specialists conduct research in both academic and practitioner career fields. In other disciplines, course work has been recognized as the primary means for preparing students to conduct and consume research. Yet, no publications document the status of research methods course work for U.S. students specializing in business and technical communication. This study provides a descriptive basis for assessing three areas in those courses: research methods topics, required readings, and teaching or assessment methods. An analysis of the results leads to a proposed agenda for preparing students specializing in business and technical communication for their future work roles in both academe and industry.

Campbell, Kim Sydow. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Education>Research

Research Opportunities in the US Patent Record    

Although scarcely explored to date, US patent records provide numerous opportunities for research in technical and scientific communication. This article reviews disciplinary research that taps this rich archive of information, describes ways in which patents act as moral and social barometers to technological change, and provides readers with a brief guide to basic information needed to initiate research using patent records.

Durack, Katherine T. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Research>Technology

Research Techniques For Technical Communicators  

Research in technical communication is similar to, yet often pragmatically different from, research in the sciences or the humanities. Researchers may gather information for practical writing projects and/or conduct long-term experiments to increase knowledge about a subject. They are required to use electronic media to discover printed sources, simulations, and demonstrations, yet they are encouraged to do much work 'on their own,' without electronic assistance. To work within technology, science, and communication, technical communicators need to develop a variety of qualitative and quantitative research skills.

Porter, Lynnette R. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Research>TC

Researching Internet-Based Populations: Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Survey Research, Online Questionnaire Authoring Software Packages, and Web Survey Services

This article examines some advantages and disadvantages of conducting online survey research. It explores current features, issues, pricing, and limitations associated with products and services, such as online questionnaire features and services to facilitate the online survey process, such as those offered by web survey businesses. The review shows that current online survey products and services can vary considerably in terms of available features, consumer costs, and limitations. It is concluded that online survey researchers should conduct a careful assessment of their research goals, research timeline, and financial situation before choosing a specific product or service.

Wright, Kevin B. JCMC (2005). Articles>Research>Methods>Surveys

Reviews in Biological Sciences published in Current Science: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Facto Micro-Scientometrics

During 1990–2002, the journal Current Science has published 291 review articles: biological sciences 135, medical sciences 53, physical sciences 31, chemical sciences 30, agricultural sciences 27, and geological sciences 15. Author synchronous self-references in each biological sciences review article and diachronous Science Citation Index (SCI) citations per review article have correlation 0.4. Recency for synchronous self-references was six years and one month, whereas half-life considering diachronous SCI citations was two years and five months. Review articles receiving ten or more SCI citations are identified. Editors of science journals may take into consideration recency while approving review submissions.

Kalyane, V.L., Anil Kumar, Anil Sagar, Anjali Prabhu, C.R. Gaderao, E.R.Prakasan, Lalit Mohan, Nita Bhaskar, Rajiv Gupta, Sanjay Kumar Singh and Vijai Kumar. International Journal for Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Research>Publishing

The Rising Power of Research in the Boardroom

Reputation risk has become an increasingly important item on the boardroom agenda. Conscientious and/or beleaguered company directors are turning to research for a sense of the health of their world and, in turn, the measure of the responsibilities they must assume. Like a ‘wellperson clinic,’ objective and independent research is increasingly being used to test perceptions and expectations and monitor the weak signals or murmurs that may either support them or destroy them in the years, if not months, ahead. For the reluctant directors out there, new-style regulation is ensuring that being pessimistic is no way to run a company. Beyond tarnished personal reputations, the penalties for poor risk management and oversight can range from unlimited fines and censure to imprisonment.

Macleod, Sandra. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Research

Scholarly Information Architecture, 1989-2015  

If we were to start from scratch today to design a quality-controlled archive and distribution system for scientific and technical information, it could take a very different form from what has evolved in the past decade from pre-existing print infrastructure. Ultimately, we might expect some form of global knowledge network for research communications. Over the next decade, there are many technical and non-technical issues to address along the way, everything from identifying optimal formats and protocols for rendering, indexing, linking, querying, accessing, mining, and transmitting the information, to identifying sociological, legal, financial, and political obstacles to realization of ideal systems. What near-term advances can we expect in automated classification systems, authoring tools, and next-generation document formats to facilitate efficient data mining and long-term archival stability? How will the information be authenticated and quality controlled? What differences should be expected in the realization of these systems for different scientific research fields? Can recent technological advances provide not only more efficient means of accessing and navigating the information, but also more cost-effective means of authentication and quality control? Relevant experiences from open electronic distribution of research materials in physics and related disciplines during the past decade are used to illuminate these questions, and some of their implications for proposals to improve the implementation of peer review are then discussed.

Ginsparg, P. Data Science Journal (2004). Articles>Information Design>Research

Scientific Articles in Internet Homepages: Assumptions Upon Lay Audiences    

This article studies a set of scientific/technical articles published in Internet homepages. Focusing upon current trends on genre theory and the functional approach deployed by Halliday and Martin [1], linguistic features and schematic structure are analyzed in relation to more standard genres. The structural analysis suggests that these kind of texts imaginatively realize and assume the standpoint and main tenets of a lay audience that just consumes specific genres, most being analogous to the persuasive, manipulative, amusement-oriented genres of TV news stories, tabloids, and commercials. It is pondered that much of the "technological utopianism" (term used by Kling [2] surrounding the ever increasingly standardized Internet discourse turns the Internet into a productive vehicle to sustain technoscience as modern myth by spreading and forging that utopian imagery into the audience's consciousness, and that scientists are taking fruitful advantage of the utopian, futurist, and often sensationalist accounts of the Internet as a formidable frame to advertise themselves and the deeds achieved in their laboratories.

Gonzalez-Pueyo, Isabel and Alicia Redrado. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>Research>Publishing>Online

Seek and Ye Shall Find

It's the information age, you know... it has been for a while. You hear people say that you can find anything on the Internet. What they don't tell you though, is how. Sure, there are search engines and there are SEARCH engines, but nobody tells you how to use them properly. Well, this is about how to make the most of search engines. While this article is written with a focus on Google (www.google.com), the principles can be applied to other search engines as well.

Alfred, P.M. Indus (2003). Articles>Research>Search

Shaping the Future of Technical Communication: Improving the Marriage Between Academia and Industry  

The future of technical communication lies in our ability to collaboratively define who we are, what we do, what we should research, and how that research should be used to develop the field. Since technical communication remains a relatively new subject area, we must carefully compete with older, well-established fields for precious resources. The continued development of our field requires a progressively dynamic research agenda developed from a productive and ongoing dialogue between academia and industry. Without such introspective collaboration, our struggle for legitimacy summons an exhibition of rhetorical blundering, which for an emerging field like technical communication, could be fatal.

Carver, Michael. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Research>TC

The State of Research in Technical Communication    

There have been many attempts to assess the state of research in our field. This article is our attempt to both (1) synthesize recent analyses, opinions, and conclusions concerning the status of technical communication research and (2) propose an action plan aimed at redirecting our field's agenda for its research. We explore these questions: What are the recent research trends in our field? What is and is not promising about our recent approaches to research? Where do we need to go next? What are the critical components for a new agenda for our research?

Blakeslee, Ann M. and Rachel Spilka. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>TC

STC Research RFP Epost Discussion Board  

The STC Research RFP Discussion Board was created using Epost, part of a University of Washington online toolkit. The discussion board is open to the public.

University of Washington-Seattle. Resources>Collaboration>Research

Strategies for Research in Technical Communication  

The purpose of research in technical communication is to determine effective methods of communicating information to target audiences. This two-part workshop will provide hands-on activities for the participants. One leader will define strategies for locating sources and evaluating the literature; another will offer guidelines for the study design, collecting and analyzing data; another will help participants learn how to report results accurately for a given audience; and one leader will help participants learn how to write effective grant proposals. From this workshop, we should develop model strategies from which we can obtain evidence of effective methods for communicating information.

Applewhite, Lottie B., Kenneth Rainey Sherry G. Southard, Katherine E. Staples and Christopher Velotta. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>TC>Research

Strategies for Research in Technical Communication  

This is a repeat of a workshop at the 42nd annual conference sponsored by the Education and Research PIC. The workshop provides consultation for participants interested in conducting research projects. It provides hands-on activities for participants in designing research projects, methods for data collection, methods of data analysis, conducting literature reviews, preparing grant proposals, and reporting research results.

Rainey, Kenneth T., Lottie B. Applewhite, Sherry G. Southard, Christopher E. Velotta and Thomas R. Williams. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Research>TC

Strategies for Research in Technical Communication: Purpose and Study Design  

Professional communicators are concerned with numerous issues related to their work. Providing the answers to all the questions raised by these issues is the primary purpose of their research in all of its forms (basic research, formal research, and scholarship). A discussion of research in academic and corporate contexts illustrates the 'who does what and why' in those settings. The sample study design presented provides a starting point for technical communicators who want to conduct formal research.

Allen, Jo and Sherry G. Southard. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Research

Strategies in Technical Communication Research  

The annual offering of this workshop sponsored by the Education and Research PIC provides consultation for participants interested in conducting research projects. It provides hands-on activities for participants in conducting literature reviews, designing research projects, preparing grant proposals, methods for data collection, methods of data analysis, and reporting research results.

Rainey, Kenneth T., Lottie B. Applewhite, Katherine E. Staples, Christopher E. Velotta and Jan H. Spyridakis. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Research>TC

Strength in the Technical Communication Journals and Diversity in the Serials Cited    

More than 1,600 serials from across the disciplines were identified as sources for technical communication scholars. The 99 most frequently cited serials are described. This citation analysis is distinguished from others by the size of the database (25,000+ citations), the 10-year review of articles published in five technical communication journals between 1988 and 1997, the number of serials cited and reviewed, and the focus on technical communication as a discipline. The analysis yielded two observations. First, five technical communication journals have grown in strength as forums for discussions of technical communication. Second, the serials cited illustrate the diversity of resources referred to from business, education, psychology, science, and technology-related sources. As a discipline, technical communication has developed depth and rigor through building the base of its research and theory while integrating the research and theory gathered from a number of disciplines.

Smith, Elizabeth Overman 'Betsy'. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Research>TC

Study Shows How to Get Bottom-Line Results from Internal Communication

Over the years, numerous studies have boasted the connection between internal communication and bottom-line results. These studies, though valuable for establishing a connection, do not delve into the important question of how. How does communication impact the bottom line? Which communication practices add the greatest value? Can communicators do to make their internal communication programs contribute to organizational success?

Vogt, Peter. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Research

Survey of Technical Writers in Small and Startup Software Companies

As part of my research for a presentation at the Forum 2000 Conference in June 2000, I conducted a survey of writers at small and startup software companies. The subject of the survey is the writer's perception of his or her role at a small or startup company. The survey also collected a small amount of factual data about the writer's place of work. I announced my survey on a number of technical writing mailing lists, probably reaching an audience of some 5,000 subscribers. Over 100 writers asked for the questionnaire, and 78 writers submitted replies.

Farbey, David. Tripod.com (2000). Articles>Research>Workplace