John R. Baker1 & Patrick Bizzaro2
1National Quemoy University, Taiwan. Email: drjohnbaker@yahoo.com
2Professor Emeritus, East Carolina University, U.S.A. Email: pbpp@auxmail.iup.edu
Volume 12, Number 5, 2020 I Full Text PDF
DOI: 10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s24n4
Abstract
The research methods landscape has the potential to be quite diverse. However, the paradigmatic battles between the two empirical research camps (quantitative and qualitative) and the more recent embracement of mixed-methods research has narrowly focused many fields’ attention, including that of composition studies, away from other sorts of useful methods, such as theoretical research. To address this, this sequential two-part study compares and contrasts the (a) purpose, (b) instruments, (c) data, and (d) structure of quantitative and qualitative research. Drawing on this four-part structure, this study advances composition studies research methods literature by posing and testing a definition of theoretical research through an examination of full-length core composition studies texts (N = 12). The article concludes by explaining the study’s relevance to the field and offering directions for future research.
Keywords: Theoretical Research, Composition Studies, Rhetoric