Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2002

Toward Integrating Our Research Scope

Clay Spinuzzi The University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

Technical communicators have recently become interested in user-centered design (UCD) for designing and evaluating technical genres. Yet, a critical examination of the field methods of UCD suggests that they suffer from unintegrated scope: an undesirably limiting focus on a particular level of scope (either the macroscopic level of human activity or the mesoscopic level of goal-directed action) in their theoretical underpinnings and data collection and analysis. This focus is often paired with the assumption that this particular level of scope causally affects what happens at the other levels. Both the focus and the assumption are at odds with sociocultural theories of human activity. This article lays out the problem of unintegrated scope and examines it through critical analyses of two field methods used in UCD research. It concludes by proposing an integrated-scope research methodology for UCD research, with roots in both sociocultural theory and the central issues of technical communication.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2002-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651902016001001
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality technical communication affect and writing

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (5)

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    “Light green doesn’t mean hydrology!”: toward a visual–rhetorical framework for…
    Computers and Composition
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    Written Communication
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    Rethinking Genre in School and Society
    Written Communication
  4. NYSTRAND et al. (1993)
    Where did Composition Studies Come from?
    Written Communication
  5. SCHRYER (1993)
    Records as Genre
    Written Communication
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