Fieldwork Activity

Collecting Original Research on Issue Related to Course Theme

Objectives
1. To conduct original research about your selected issue by distributing a survey/questionnaire.
2. To create a visual representation of the data you collect (a graph, chart, flowchart, etc.) to be used
later in your Research Report.

Overview
During the next couple weeks, we will focus on conducting research by using fieldwork. John Trimbur
explains, “Not all research is conducted in the library. In fact, the library may be just a starting point,
providing an overview of your topic and the background information you need in order to undertake
field research. Field research includes observations, interviews, and questionnaires” (472).

The data you collect from this activity will be summarized later in the Research Report.

The Specifics
By now you have selected a topic and have read what several experts think about that topic. Now it’s
time to collect some of your own original data on your course theme. Specifically, it’s time to learn
what a general audience—perhaps people in your age group—think about the issue, and you can do
this through field research; in this class, you’ll design a survey/questionnaire to collect your data for
the Multimodal essay assignment. This kind of research is fun and helps you collect data that no one
has—not even the experts.

To conduct this kind of research, think about the kind of questions you might ask a general audience
about your course theme.

For example, if you are interested in food culture and want to know how knowledgeable people are
about where their food comes from, you might design a list of questions that asks people about their
food choices, where they shop, what they prefer to eat, and how knowledgeable they are about where
their food comes from.

How To Collect Your Data

Your objective will be to collect information through your survey and then to draw a conclusion about
the issue based on the data you collect. You will present the results of your survey in your Research
Report.

You will collect your research by distributing a survey/questionnaire, either with paper or
electronically using Survey Monkey. You may include between 8 and 10 questions, and you must get
responses from at least 25 people.

Due Dates: Surveys go live by 11/25 (at the latest!) and should be closed by 12/3 (also at the latest).

Fieldwork Activity Instructions