Today’s Plan:
- Reviewing Codes (18 minutes)
- Job Ad Report (14 minutes)
- Pulling Data and Creating a Spreadsheet (14 minutes
- For Next Class (4 minutes)
Reviewing Codes
Let’s spend 15-20 minutes in the spreadsheet reviewing codes.
Job Ad Report Expectations
Let’s start here:
- Length: Generally this report is 6-8 pages singled-spaced (this includes a title page, a table of content, and properly sized charts/graphs)
- Front Loaded Introduction: Does the intro summarize all significant findings and include specific, actionable recommendations?
- Methodology: The methodology section needs to do a few things. First, how did I collect the job ads (I described this process in a blog post, condense my Brumberger and Lauer discussion)? Second, how did you select your 20 jobs from the job corpus? Third, from where did we draw our coding scheme? Fourth, what did we do to ensure that our data was reliable? Could I recreate this work based on this section?
- Presentation of Data: Does the section contain a table or graph of data?
Can you understand the table or graph, or is there some mystery meat?
Does the writer make clear what the table or graph says? - Discussion of Data: Does the writer highlight significant or unexpected elements of the data? Does the writer put the data in conversation with previous research (Brumberger and Lauer)? Does the writer make specific recommendations based on the data?
- Style and Grammar [commas, run-ons, fragments, tense shifts, agreement errors, etc]
Does the paper reflect our work on style (Williams and Bizup, Characters and Actions)? - Does this paper reflect expectations for business formatting? (Check the ABO book
- Title Page
- Page Numbers (should not include the title page)
Does the document version history indicate that the paper was given a careful edit? (And/or, is the document relatively error free? Are their sentences in which grammatical errors lead to misunderstanding?)
For business formatting, check the ABO book The ABO book contains sections on:
- Feasibility Reports
- Formal Reports
- Investigative Reports
- Tables
- Graphs
- Look at the sample proposal on 439. Sample feasibility report, 187-188. Sample formal report 202-218. Sample investigative report 291.
Let me stress two things: Single or 1.15 spacing. Block paragraphs [single space between paragraphs, no indent].
Finalizing Our Data
Let’s talk about how to generate the data you need for your report. You have coded 20 jobs, so we need to tabulate how often a code appears in your 20 ads. The simplest way to do this, and to make graphs of your results, is to create a simple spreadsheet.
Here is a blank template to tabulate your data. This is set to view-only, you will need to make your own copy. File > Make a Copy). It has some sample numbers in there–be sure to delete those. Then go through your 20 jobs and simply count and record code frequency.
Once you have that data you can easily generate a graph. I want to show you how to generate a graph. Next week we will talk about creating ethical and useable visualizations of data (how to modify your graphs).
Here’s a link to documentation by google on making charts/graphs.
in Sheets.
For Next Class:
I’d like you to write the methodology section of your report. These can be tricky. The ABO book has some guidelines for writing up a methodology section.
Also, create the three graphs you need for the report (Tools and Technology, Professional Competencies, Personal Characteristics). Write summary paragraphs of each graph (redundancy is important when you write up research).
In Monday’s class, we will do a brainstorming session on how to write the discussion section. We will also talk about report format. In Wednesday’s class, we will assess a few past papers so you have clearer sense of expectations for the final report.
I think this will be useful: more details about the assignment expectations.
