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Finding Problems: Before Gathering and Analyzing Data

delete2026-07-01
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PRE
AI
C
Charles Bazerman *
DOI:10.1177/07410883261440263delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Finding a research problem is the first and most consequential choice a researcher can make, but making this choice about what is not yet known can leave the researcher in a hazy world of uncertainty until the project takes shape. While each person needs to find their own path through the haze, I have found that four kinds of questions help me locate and design a useful research project: what is in front of me; how I add up what I and others have learned previously; how the project fits in various perspectives in and outside the field of writing studies; and how the study advances knowledge and/or aids with practical problems. Only when the answers to these four different questions come together, am I confident of the value of a particular study. Often it takes, however, some kind of unexpected catalyst to bring the project into focus.
Keywords:
methodology
writing
problem finding
research site
research questions
uncertainty

Journal

W
Written Communication
IF:
2.2
Papers:
28
Citations:
1.4K

Organization

University of California System cover
University of California System
Scholars:
37.7W
Papers: 33.8W
Citations: 6.6K
Cited Papers

Cited Papers

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errJoAnne Yates
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Analyses of seven writing studies journals, 2000–2019, Part I: Statistical trends in references cited and lexical diversity
err2023-03-01
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PREAI
errGallagher,John R.; Wang,Hsiang; Modaff,Matthew; Liu,Junjing; Xu,Yi; Beveridge,Aaron
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The Languages of Edison's Light
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IF0
err1999-08-31
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PREAI
errCharles Bazerman
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researcher View more