Annotations of pages 96-98 of Aims of Argument
Field research: going out into the “field” and recording what you observe
ways to do it:
Observations: not discounting your own personal experiences. You can seek out a personal experience.
Surveys: A lot of ways it can be messy if you’re not careful:
-You have to use definitive language and be very specific.
-There is a lot of room for it to be biased.
-you have to try to get a representative response. To do this, be realistic and don’t ask just the people in your class or just your family. Try to get as much of a widespread response as possible.
Interviews:
-decide exactly what you want to find out
-hunt down who you need to talk to. Phone calls lead to other phone calls. List all your organizations and contacts
-Withold on controversy and your own position. Be respectful with their time.
-Take notes- write down everything just as a big blerb. Afterwards you can organize and cut information. Know what you want to ask before the interview. Only ask things that are relevant.
Library and Internet Research:
-A lot of resources from the library are published online. Librarians use the term “born digital” to distinguish sources that were just made online vs. sources from the library.
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