I just got out of my annual review with my dissertation committee, and I believe that the previous meetings with them and our "wranglings" with the subject of my study and the possible research design has paid off. Everyone clearly understands what the subject of my study is and we have general agreement on what exactly about the subject ("rhetorical reflection") I will study. I think this actual focus of my study may be fluid, but I think with time will gain more focus.
What has made the BIGGEST difference is that we all decided to make this an archival study of between the draft reflections within TOPIC. There are some disadvantages in this study since I can't actually interview my subjects, but it sounds like there are other methods of member checking and triangulation that I could use and develop. The increadible advantages of using the archive is that it is stable, no IRB would be needed (we'll have to check that), and I have access to a vast pool of data. I can do random samples, as well as perhaps some larger "data-mining." It also has the possibility for a kind of longitudinal look at a student's reflections and writing growth over an entire year.
I will talk more later about how to dig into this study, but for now I feel enormous relief to have this much defined (for now).
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