EvalG3ssArtF2008

** Article: Paretti, Marie C., Lisa D. McNair, and Lissa Holloway-Attaway. "Teaching Technical Communication in an Era of Distributed Work: A Case Study of Collaboration Between U.S. and Swedish Students". //Technical Communication Quarterly// 16.3 (2007): 327-352.
 * Evaluation of Secondary Literature (Printed Work)

|| ** Authors and Experts Cited ** || ** Content ** || ** Methodology ** || || ** Q. ** What is the problem being solved by the research? **Q**. What seems to be the research question (hypothesis)? ** A. ** The students’ lack of understanding how to communicate and collaborate in a distributed work environment. **A**. What specific metaknowledge do students need to know to communicate and collaborate to negotiate distributed work in an array of configurations? || || ** Q **. Does content agree with the content of at least one other item about the same topic appearing in a reputable research publication? ** A **. Yes. The authors clearly researched and reviewed literature from reputable sources. This article refers to research from the National Research Council in 2000, which suggests students learn metaknowledge and concepts in order to have a framework surrounding the facts and skills needed to complete the work. This statement supports findings in the study. || ** Q **. Is solving the problem of significance? **Q**. Who might use the results? **Q**. How might they use the results? ** A **. Yes. Due to the international business climate it is critical students understand the importance of and how to communicate and collaborate in virtual environments. **A.** Universities, businesses and various other agencies invested in global work or issues might use the results of this study. **A**. The results might be used to train employees on cultural competencies. Research might use the results of this study to determine metaknowledge needed among other distributed or virtual collaborative work groups. || || ** Q **. Are they subject matter experts in the subject area of the item? **Q**. Can you tell? **Q**. For example, if they have published several other items about the same topic, then they are at least on their way to being subject matter experts? ** A **. Yes. **A**. Previous research and studies completed by other authors article establishes them as subject matter experts. **A.** Each author has written on this topic and other related articles, in other journals, conference papers, etc. || ** Q **. Are the authors of works cited qualified? You are evaluating them similarly to what you do for the authors of the item being evaluated. ** A **. Yes. Many of the authors are well published in journals, with books, and serve as university professors, including Michael Albers, PhD. Associate Professor Michael Albers published in //Technical Communication, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication// and teaches professional writing at East Carolina University. || ** Q **. Does the content build on other published literature? **Q**. If suitable, does the item contain a literature review synthesizing other relevant secondary literature? **Q**. Are references to other appropriate research integrated within the item, so you can determine how the research fits within other research already conducted? ** A **. Yes. The authors cite several other bodies of work indicating emergence of the role of communication and collaboration in distributed work. Placing the demand upon educational institutions to prepare students for this type of professional work situation. **A**. Yes, this article does contain a literature review of relevant secondary literature. **A**. Yes. Authors cited in this article “described technical communicators as needing to be flexible enabling them to shift among various organizational roles” (Linn Beckins and Sean Williams, 2006, p. 289). Other scholars have argued that the new economy expands opportunity for technical communicators. A survey by authors Kenneth Rainey, Roy Turner and David Drayton mention the following as key competencies in the workplace: collaboration (with subject knowledge experts and coauthors), writing to audiences/user needs, learning new technologies, self-motivation and self-critique” (2005). || || ** Q **. What research method is used? In other words, how are the data gathered? **Q**. Does the author present sufficient information about the methodology to enable you to understand the research conducted in terms of the methodology? ** A **. Qualitative method is used in this case study. Data was gathered through surveys, focus groups and email transcripts. **A**. Yes. Enough information was provided in the //data collection// section to determine the methodology in this research. || || ** Q **. Have they won any relevant awards? ** A. ** Marie C. Paretti, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, recently earned a $405,308 National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for her research regarding the experience of engineering capstone design courses both for students and faculty. Dr. Lisa McNair received the Helen Plants Award (Best Special session at Frontiers in Education 2007). Not able to determine if Professor Holloway-Attaway earned any special recogintions. || ** Q **. What are the dates of works cited? ** A. ** Cited dates listed by some of the researchers in this article are 2006, 2004, 2005 and 2000. || ** Q. ** What subjects and/or documents are used for the research? A. U.S. and Swedish students are used in this case study. **Q**. If so, how are they part of the data gathering process? **Q.** For example, are students interviewed or part of the research in some way? **Q**. If yes, then what documents etc? ** Q **. For another example are documents (or processes or systems or similar items) part of the data gathering process? **A**. Both sets of students completed surveys before and after the course and participated in separate focus groups midway the course. **A**. As previously indicated the students took part in surveys and focus groups in order for researchers to gather data for the study. **A.** No other documents were mentioned as a part of the data gathering process. || || ** Q **. Does the author seem to have conducted an exhaustive search of the secondary literature related to the item’s topic? Do most of the works listed come from the same publication? ** A **. Not able to determine if the search for secondary literature was exhaustive. The references used come from similar and a variety of other sources. The researchers quoted in the article come from a variety of publications. While many of them publish with the same publisher. || ** Q **. Are the results presented in a coherent manner? ** A **. Yes. The researchers state up front that the numbers of students participating in the case study were less instructive than the actual comments by the students. The researchers effectively presented the survey results by expounding on the comments. Giving the reader/reviewer a clear picture of the findings and their relevance toward the project. The focus also offered more insight into the dynamics of the case study. It clearly demonstrated the need for educational courses on communication and collaboration. Students lacked direction how to maintain and manage distributed work and their feedback through the survey and focus group reflected it. || ||
 * ** Publishing Source **
 * ** Q ** . Who is the publisher? ** A ** . The article list Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc as the publisher. The publishing path for this journal is Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., to Taylor and Francis to Rutledge. || ** Q ** . What are the titles and professional affiliations given for author(s)? ** A ** .  Marie C. Paretti, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Paretti is the co-director of the Virginia Tech Engineering Communications Center (VTECC) with Lisa D. McNair, and director of the Materials Science and Engineering/Engineering Science and Mechanics Engineering Communications Program. Lisa D. McNair, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. ** Lissa Holloway-Attaway ****,** English/LCDM Program Director, Senior Lecturer/ Associate Professor in Literature, Culture and Digital Media Studies at The Bleckinge Institute of Technology. It is located in Sweden and is not measured by the Carnegie categories. According to its website “ Blekinge Institute of Technology  (BTH) education and research are of a very high international standard and learning is the focal point for student, teacher and researcher alike”.  The institution is well known and recognized for the quality and integrity of their graduates around the world. The authors are assistant professors experienced in research, engineering and technical communications.  || ** Q ** . Was the item published recently? **Q**. Is the topic one that could become dated? ** A ** . The article was published in 2007 and appears to have long lasting relevance. It refers to 1976 research done on communication and collaboration in virtual environments by Short, Williams and Christie.
 * ** Q ** . Is the publisher respected in the field of technical and professional communication? **Q**. For example, is the item published in a peer-reviewed publication? **Q.** What specifics can you determine about the publisher? **Q.** Is the publisher a professional organization? **Q**. Has the publisher won any awards?   ** A ** . Yes, the publisher is well respected in this field. // Technical Communication Quarterly // (TCQ) is a refereed journal that publishes research focused on technical communication in academic, scientific, technical, business, governmental, and related organizational or social contexts. The publisher has an extensive publishing history since 1836. Many of the journals published are academic and social science based. ** A ** . The publisher is world known and considered a professional organization. **A**. The publisher has won numerous  awards several areas.  Taylor & Francis Group was voted overall 2nd place in the Publisher of the Year Awards held recently at the 37th Annual Conference of APSBG, the Academic, Professional & Specialist Booksellers Group of the Publishers Association held in Grantham  || ** Q. ** Have they published other articles and/or books? **Q**. Do reputable publishers publish those items? **Q.** Do they publish fairly regularly? ** A ** . Each author publishes articles with some frequency at least once year. Their articles are published with various publishers and from what I could determine the publishers are reputable.
 * ** Q. ** Does the publisher have an editor(s)? **Q**. And, if yes, what details can you find about the editor(s) to support that person(s) as able to ensure only top quality items are published under that editorship? ** A ** . Yes, the publishers list the editors and the university affiliations at the end of the journal.
 * ** Q. ** What topics does the journal publish about and does the item fall within the topics covered by the journal, according to its mission statement? ** A ** . The topics include communication design, pedagogical approaches, the role of digital technologies, ethics, the rhetoric of workplaces or professions, the practices of publication management, dialogue between academics and practitioners, research methods, and connections between social practices and organizational discourse. Yes, the article being evaluated falls within the scope of the mission statement.  || ** Q. ** Are they cited in the reference lists of other professional articles? ** A. ** Yes. Lissa Holloway-Attaway is cited in an article in  // Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology //, 2004 and the //Journal of the Learning Sciences//, 2001. Marie C. Paretti is cited in an article in //Journal of American Medical Informatics Association//, 2007 and Science 2008.     Lisa D. MCNair   is cited in an article in   // Technical Communication Quarterly // , 2007.      || ** Q ** . Do reliable publishers publish their works? For example, for an article about preparing documents for older readers, how valid are references to research published in the magazine of AARP? What is that group? What does magazine vs. journal indicate? A. Yes. Michael Albers was published in the 2005 special issue of //Technical Communication//. This is a reliable publisher.
 * ** Q. ** Is the publisher a vanity press? ** A ** . No, this is not a vanity press. It is a professional, refereed journal. || ** Q ** . Do they have practical experience related to the topic? ** A ** . Yes. Each professor authoring the case study currently teach students in technical communications using experiential education as a part of course work.
 * || || || ** Q ** . Does the study recognize both its strengths and its weaknesses? ** A. ** The article does not indicate where the authors included strengths and weaknesses of the case study. ||
 * || || || ** Q. ** Can you tell whether the research received IRB approval? ** A ** . Yes. This is indicated under the //study site// section of the article.