Replication Study of Rhetorical Reflection

I want now to outline the basic research design of my replication study of my dissertation research.

General Goals of Study:
I have to ask my self seriously whether this replication is really targeted at verification at this point. If so, it changes the whole nature of the study. Grounded theory is about theory generation, not verification, so if I tip over to verification I would be altering my original study to greatly. I must maintain a sense that I am still evolving and discovering this theory. If I want to "verify," I think that needs to be another study.

However, I think verification has a double-meaning within grounded theory methodology. Verification runs through out the method of constant comparison and what might be called the double-movement of grounded theory data analysis (or coding). Here is how it works. I observe the data closely, naming phenomena, and beginning to state understandings or meanings about what is going on. When I go from my sense of "what is going on" and then look again at the data to see if what I think is going on is really going on--that is a kind of verification. As I do this same checking by comparing one instance with another instance--that is verification too. Selective coding, at least as I understood it, was a form of verification around a core concept. You took that core concept and then checked to see if it fit and worked through various instances. Hence, I think I need not be afraid of verification because it is within the fiber of grounded theory methodology, but I don't think I should start there.

Outline of Research Design:

Sample:
Six "essay cycles" from my students between Essay #2 draft 1 and draft 2.
This might be followed with another set in either draft E3-2 to E3-3 or E4-3 to E4-3.
(I'm thinking for this round I will keep it smaller and more manageable).
Data includes: assignment, draft 1, peer responses, writing review, and next draft

Coding Procedure:
 recode a fresh set of data following the procedure I used for slice 5
--initial coding and memoing
--perhaps chart the dynamic of rhetorical reflection (?)
--create problem-analysis chart of essay cycle
--further memoing and diagraming
--attempt to replicate selective coding around comparison, assessment, judgment made in terms of essay success


Member Checking:
Since I have access to students this time, I am able to talk to them about their writing, reflections, and thinking. Once I have my data and some conclusions, I will talk to them.

Final Memoing comparing my impressions with those thoughts stated by the students.

This replication can not be called "exact" and perhaps not even "approximate" or "adaptive." So my categories fall apart this quickly!  This research is really an extension. If seeks replication but it also seeks to follow the initial trajectory of the original research--taking it to the next step or level that the original research did not reach.

Hmm... So is extension really replication? In this case I believe so because grounded theory is a set of repetitions and replications of constant comparative analysis over an over again.

One complicating factor that definitely makes this replication study approximate is that I am using my own students. I already feel some anxiety about who to choose to include in this study. I know these students. How do I pick this sample based on theoretical reasons and not any sort of rationale based on getting a "representative sample" as in experimental designs?

What will be the theoretical basis for my selection? Could I base this selection upon my theory of the spectrum of reflectiveness? Between reflections that predominantly tell/report vs. those that consider/evaluate? I would anticipate to see either a high or low degree of reflectiveness (in the form of comparison, assessment, and judgment made in terms of essay success) within these different populations. Am I setting up to great a "checking" with this hypothesis testing sample section rationale?

I think at this point I will have to ponder my sample section a bit more. Perhaps continue to review my previous research up to this point and see what I wanted for the next slice of data.