Bridging Institutions to Cross the Quantitative/Qualitative Divide
Access full-text files
Date
2010
Authors
Bromley, Pam
Northway, Kara
Schonberg, Eliana
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Department
Description
Considering qualitative and quantitative student response data and
comparing those data cross-institutionally improves writing center
policies locally and helps define broader objectives of the writing
center as a campus institution.
As writing center practitioners, it can be difficult to determine whether we
should focus our research and assessment energies on gathering quantitative or
qualitative data. Few of us are trained as “numbers people,” yet most of us
regularly collect masses of quantitative data in the form of user statistics, exit
surveys measuring student satisfaction, and demographic information about the
writers who use our centers. Still, qualitative data often feels like the best
illustration of our pedagogy to us, our tutors, and our faculty and
administrators. When we do collect qualitative data, it frequently reflects
recurrent themes in our scholarship. Even if our qualitative data manifests
cross-institutional similarities, it is difficult to compare across different schools.
[1] Convinced that both quantitative and qualitative feedback is essential to
effective assessment of writing center work, we - three very different writing
center practitioners from three very different institutions - set out to create a
collaborative research project that would allow us to harness the strengths of
both quantitative and qualitative methods.