My current research projects are as follows:
Learning Transfer: Lifespan Writing Project
Started in 2010, my longitudinal writing transfer and writing development project is entering its 10th year of data collection. I followed 13 participants until one-year past graduation (for many students, 6-8 years total in the study). I continue to work with my final two participants who are completing a Ph.D. and entering residency in medical school. Data collected includes interviews and writing samples collected at regular intervals (currently, 272 writing samples and 92 interviews over 10 years). I have published and worked on this project with my graduate research assistants at IUP. Publications surrounding this project include:
Driscoll, D. L. & Jin, D. (2018). The box under the bed: Learner epistemologies and writing transfer. Across the Disciplines, Vol 15. https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/atd/articles/driscoll-jin2018.pdf
Driscoll, D. L. and Powell, R. (2016). States, traits, and dispositions: The impact of emotion on writing development and writing transfer across college courses and beyond. Composition Forum (Special Issue on Emotions) 34. https://compositionforum.com/issue/34/states-traits.php
Driscoll, D. L. (2014). Clashing values: A longitudinal study of student beliefs of general education, vocationalism, and transfer of learning. Teaching and Learning Inquiry Vol. 2.1. pp. 21-37. DOI: 10.2979/teachlearninqu.2.1.21
Self-Sponsored Writing Project
As part of the Elon University Seminar on Writing Beyond the University, I am working on a team of five researchers to study self-sponsored writing, that is, writing that takes place for non-work and non-school contexts. Data collection includes a survey, original writing samples, and text-based interviews. We are collecting data on the project in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020. My co-authors are: Andrea Efthymiou, Hofstra University; Heather Lindenman, Elon University; Jennifer Reid, Marquette University; and Matthew Pavich, Georgetown University.
Box Under the Bed – CCCC Grant Funded Project
Funded by a CCCC Research Initiative Grant, the “Box Under the Bed” project seeks to replicate and extend Bergmann and Zepernicks (2007) study on disciplinarity and transference. This project uses focus groups and multi-institutional research to explore writing in diverse settings. This is a collaborative project with Roger Powell (Graceland University), Jennifer Wells (New College of Florida) and Katherine Rothschild (St. Mary’s College of California), and Omar Yacoug (IUP, Research Assistant). We are currently in the data collection phase in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020.
Academic Writing Expertise Project
The Academic Writing Expertise project focuses on developing a deeper understanding the scholarly writing practices and writing processes of professional academic writers. Using a combination of interviews, writing journals, and direct observations of writing process through Google Documents and Google Draftback, my goal is to help develop evidence-based teaching practices for graduate students and advanced academic writers. Data collection began in Spring 2018 and continues in Fall 2020.
