Rhetorical Research

Research is rhetorical: it involves choices and evaluation. What

is important? Why is it important? To whom is it important?
Valuable information often comes in the form of new or unusual
connections of already existing research. This is originality in
articulation.
Research is the creative application of knowledge in problem
solving endeavors.

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think

what nobody else has thought” (DBI 120).
The great abundance of information available is a problem. Your
job is making all the available information more accessible and
more applicable.
Research is a road map through a crowded landscape.
Relevance and reliability are a function of your audience’s
needs, values, expectations, and expertise.
Commonplace research methods are important to your ethos
1. Engineers have their own accepted methods, for example; as do
educators
2. The debate of NCLB (qualitative v. quantitative)
3. Local knowledge can create trust
Primary vs. secondary research
Source/Subject
Not everything we need is online: never assume that a Google
search is enough. Avoid WYDSDE: what you don’t see doesn‘t
exist.
Not everything we need is in newspapers, trade publications,
academic journals, and books. Consider information available
only through primary research: surveys, interviews, and
observations.
The key to good research is to dig deep. A successful research
project (such as a map) drills down into the matter at hand.
There is always another question to be asked.
Research is a road map through
crowded landscape.