The Department of Basic Composition has completed its own institutional research for ENGH 0890 and ENGH 0990.

Rich Matzen, Outcome Assessment and Department Research Coordinator, wrote all the research reports that describe these areas. The reports were often originally written as memoranda that were distributed to the appropriate administrators and faculty members. Although the subjects and dates of the research reports/memoranda are left on the documents, the names of recipients have been deleted.

For the Fall of 2004 and Spring of 2005, Rich Matzen received release time to continue his work as Outcome Assessment and Department Research Coordinator. His release time proposal, “A Data-Based Decision-Making Proposal for Release Time,” was approved in September of 2004. In December, he wrote a progress report regarding the projects and reports derived from his having release time.

In the fall of 2004, contract faculty members agreed that because the college’s students and department’s basic writers are mostly males (approximately 62% of basic writers are males), research into the relationship between gender bias and preferable writing assignments would be conducted. Therefore, Rich Matzen wrote and distributed a survey, and analyzed the surveys completed by 153 basic writers. The following research report describes various findings, gender biases for assignments, and  recommendations for adjusting portfolio requirements to serve students’ preferences and needs regarding ENGH 0890 and 0990.

January 10, 2005: Research Question: Do our male basic writers prefer to write different papers than our female basic writers?