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Other Methods of Inquiry
Interviews and Focus Groups
S
ometimes to advance your argument you may need to do original
research. By original research, we mean using primary sources of evi-
dence you gather yourself. (Another common term for this type of inves-
tigation is field research.) Remember that primary sources of evidence
include firsthand or eyewitness accounts like those found in letters or
newspapers, or in research reports in which the researcher explains his
or her impressions of a particular phenomenon — for example, gender
relations in classroom interactions. (In contrast, a secondary source is an
analysis of information contained in primary sources.)
The type of original research we discuss in this chapter relies on
people — interviewees and members of focus groups — as primary sources
of information. To inquire into gender dynamics in college science class-
rooms, then, you might conduct interviews with young women to under-
stand their perceptions of how gender affects teaching. Or you might
convene a focus group to put a variety of perspectives into play on ques-
tions about gendered teaching practices. The pages that follow present
strategies for conducting interviews and setting up focus groups that can
generate multiple responses to your research questions.
When you conduct research, keep in mind that you are not setting out
to prove anything; instead, the process of inquiry will enable you to answer
the questions you ask, address problems, and move readers to rethink their
positions. Good critical readers know that the arguments they produce as
writers are influenced by what they choose to discuss and how they con-
strue the evidence they provide.
Although there is really no way to avoid the limitations of writing
from one point of view, writers can provide readers with multiple sources11_GRE_5344_Ch11_313_342.indd 313 11/19/14 11:02 AM