The survey consisted of 21 questions, some of which were answered only by instructors, some only by administrators, some only by counselors and advisors. Each question had a list of responses that respondents could check off; most questions offered a space for listing other responses or for making comments.
Learners' or practitioners' journals can provide insights related to the research question. These include journals that people usually keep as part of their learning or work, or journals that are kept specifically for the research. (See Chapter 2 for suggestions about using journals for reflection.)
Pam Young (2002) wanted to find out about what writing strategies students used. Students were keeping learning journals as part of their course, and, with students' permission, Pam was able to use the journal entries as data for her research. Leonne Beebe (2006) used students' reflective learning logs to research the effectiveness of the Guided Reflective Writing Technique.
Journaling is often combined with observations. Melanie Sondergaard (2006) kept a journal to document and reflect on organized and incidental meetings with participants in her research about supporting youth involved in making change in their community:
I took time, within at most a day of each session, to make detailed notes of my observations and reflections. I also made entries whenever I had interactions with group members outside of the eight sessions.... I was careful to record who was there, what I observed in terms of behaviour, interactions, what took place and my own questions and reflections as a facilitator along the way. (pp. 11-12)
In her work with a women's writing group, Laurie Kehler (2004) researched how she put her growing understanding about impacts of violence on learning into practice. For Laurie, documenting and reflecting on her observations was a method for lesson planning as well as for research. Laurie and her co-facilitator met after each class to write about the day's activities:
We each described responses to exercises and activities and the way group members interacted. After we had finished, we would share our writing with each other and discuss the day and take more notes. These sessions gave us time to really discuss what was happening in class and what action we might take next time. The themes we pulled out of our discussion became the ideas behind the following week's lesson plan.... The notes also provided data for my research. (pp. 67-68)