Primary Research
Value/Unit Agreement
A measured parameter has a value and a unit. For example, if the parameter is distance, then the value could be 10 and the unit could be miles. The unit of a parameter (mile or miles) should match the value in number. The prescriptive rule for value/unit agreement is that decimal values between 1 and negative 1 should take a singular unit. However, according to my hypothesis, this rule violates "organic" grammar. The results of my experiment were published in the peer-review journal Technical Communication: Reconsidering Some Prescriptive Rules of Grammar and Composition.
Non-Sampling Percussion Synthesizer
As a student at Pellissippi State Technical Community College, I was required to conduct research for a special electrical project, design an electronic device based upon that research, build the device, present the device to a board of judges, and defend the design against critical questions. The device, a percussion synthesizer, won 1st place in the Senior Electrical Exhibit Competition. My reward was a cash prize, certificate, and an appearance on the local news.
The research required experimenting with analog electronic circuits to produce the sounds of a common drum kit, including:
- Snare drum
- Hi-Hat
- Bass Drum
- Cymbals
- Tom toms
- Cow bells
- Blocks
RF Modulation in Incandescent Lighting
Older fluorescent ballasts--the kind you hear humming in outdated commercial and industrial buildings--use electricity inefficiently. By incorporating complex electronic circuits, state-of-the-art electronic ballasts use energy much more efficiently. However, these ballasts can produce noise that can interfere with other electronic equipment, including healthcare equipment.
As the publications manager of EPRI PEAC Corporation, I was put in charge of creating a document about this clash of technologies (see PQTN Solution Number 4, "Solving the Clash of Electronics Technologies"). As a former technician, I was interested in the way the ballast was behaving like the transmitter of an AM radio station, broadcasting noise. I theorized about the cause of the noise, received permission from my manager to test my theory, conducted an experiment, and published the results in the very document I was already composing. Here is the side bar that was published in that PQTN Solution.
Rhetorical Roles in the Reading Process
As a Ph.D. candidate in experimental psychology (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), I targeted my scholarship on the reading process. The Ph.D. program required original research in the student's chosen interest, so I developed an hypothesis that readers assume a rhetorical role when they read. This role greatly influences the way people read, and the text can alter this role.
To test my hypothesis, I conducted a reading experiment with about 20 subjects. I wrote a program in BASIC to control the experiment. Subjects were required to read different types of texts, and the program controlled their navigation and timed their reading speed. The experiment included survey instruments and robust statistical analyses, the results of which are in the paper Building Instruments to Measure the Effect of Rhetorical Roles on Reading Strategy: Some Evidence against Using Readability Formulas to Equalize Texts.
Secondary Research
Silent Speech in the Reading Process
To determine the role of silent speech in the reading process, I read hundreds of articles and books, most of which dealt with cognitive psychology. This research resulted in two papers published in peer-review journals.
The first paper, A Phonological Reading Model for Technical Communicators, developed a reading model based upon the way people silently articulate words as they read. This phenomenon, often called speech recoding, has serious implications for serious technical communicators.
The second paper, The Evolution of the Speech Instinct in Silent Reading: Implications for Technical Communication, placed the phenomenon of silent speech into an anthropological context. The speech apparatus is well over 100,000 years old, much older than reading, much older than writing. This article traces speech from its incipient days to its emergence as an attendant process of modern reading.
Rhetorical Roles in the Reading Process
When people read, they read for a purpose, assuming a role that unconsciously guides the reading process. My research into this phenomenon has informed many of my published papers and articles. Moreover, I use this research in my tutorials on technical writing, including a comprehensive writing tutorial conducted for a research and development firm.
Readability Formulas
Use the grammar tools of Microsoft Word and you'll discover a tool that some technical communicators use to develop texts. Theoretically, readability formulas enable you to analyze a text to determine its reading-difficulty level. However, as the results of my research bear out, readability formulas fail to accomplish their purpose. The results of my research into readability formulas resulted in Last Rites for Readability Formulas in Professional Communication, a paper published in a peer-review journal.
Schema Theory Applied to the Reading Process
During my doctoral study at the University of Tennessee, I focused on the psychology of the reading process. One theory about the way people gather, store, and structure knowledge is called schema theory. During my research, I discovered that schema theory could be used to explain the reading process. The result, a paper titled Conducting Reading Research in Technical Communication, was published in a peer-review journal. |
