How to integrate research into the TC curriculum: an experience report and some lessons learned
A summary of the IUNTC Talk on December, 15, 2022, by Monika Vortisch
Applied research is important: for supporting the practice of technical communicators and information designers, but also for the identity of the field. The high teaching load at universities of applied sciences, where programs of study for technical communication and information design are usually found, still leaves little leeway for research. In this context,
Dr. Michael Meng, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Merseburg, refers to the importance of impulses from teachers in order to advance research.
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The general goals
“We have a research gap in Germany. For this reason, we need more graduates who are interested in research,” Dr. Michael Meng, Professor of Applied Linguistics at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences, said at the last IUNTC meeting on December 15. He has been working since 2012 in the department of economics and information technology at at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences, researching in the fields of technical communication, information design and psycholinguistics.
The professor sees the main reasons for this, among other factors, as the lack of time in universities of applied sciences. With 16 to 18 hours of teaching obligations, it is difficult to build and lead a research group. “However, it is also important to do more at universities to introduce students to research,” says Dr. Meng. The role and importance of research, according to Dr. Meng, must be demonstrated in order to spark students’ interest and allow them to actively collaborate. Teachers should continually ponder how to introduce students to research, interest them in it and enable them to conduct research.
For this purpose, a module of 4 semester hours per week (a total of 150 hours) was integrated into the third semester of the “Information Design and Media Management” master’s degree program at the University of Merseburg, dedicated to research and research methods specifically and exclusively.
Core contents of the module
Part 1 includes teaching the role and importance of research, general goals and approaches, the structure of research projects, how to proceed with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies, and the evaluation and presentation of results;
Part 2 includes planning and implementing a small research project in groups of 4-5 students and presenting it as a conference poster.
The central document and basis for planning the content and designing the exercises is Hayhoe & Brewer’s book “A Research Primer for Technical Communication” (2nd edition, 2021, Routledge, New York. DOI: https://doi.org).
What research topics do students work on in this module?
“Topics for student research projects are sometimes developed in cooperation with businesses. Other topics are oriented to studies from earlier research, attempting, for example, a complete or partial replication. Very frequently, however, students work on a topic they have freely chosen themselves,” explains Dr. Meng. The central challenge is, however, limiting the topics, as only a limited period of 15 weeks is available, and choosing a research design that can be realized within a semester.
According to Dr. Meng, the offering has been well received. The results are actually always of good or very good quality; exciting topics are found and worked on. “Now, we are hoping that one or another can also be found who would like to deepen their interest in research after completing the master's degree and take the path to a doctorate, for example in a doctoral center at the University at Merseburg!”
Please contact Prof. Michael Meng with any questions at the following email address: michael.meng@hs-merseburg.de