Volume XX Number 8

Honors and Awards

Rainey Award Honors Research

By Michael Hughes, Associate Fellow, Atlanta Chapter

Why We Need Research and Why We Honor Those Who Do It

In The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter Senge uses the term abstraction wars to describe a kind of debate typified by a free-for-all of opinions and personal beliefs. For example, a group of writers trying to collaborate on a set of documents might argue about what content the users really want or how readers typically use online help. They might also argue about document mechanics, such as which font should be used for the body text or the maximum number of steps that procedures should contain. Too often, victory goes to the one with the loudest voice or the one who can wear down the opposition.

But in a professional field of practice such as technical communication, abstraction wars should not dictate the tenets of the practice. What makes for good technical writing should not rest on the whims of an individual writer or the personal persuasiveness of anyone advocating a particular standard or technique. Best practices should emerge through a recognized and reliable consensus among the practitioners of the profession. Well-conducted research is one way to accomplish this goal.

How STC Supports Research

• STC supports research that shapes our professional practice in three ways:

• Directly funding relevant research

• Maintaining a refereed journal (Technical Communication) that publishes research that helps technical communicators make informed decisions

• Promoting standards of quality for research in the field of technical communication

In its work of meeting the third objective, STC initiated a new award last year. The Ken Rainey Award for Excellence in Research honors research that has made positive, significant contributions to the practice and teaching of technical communication. The award memorializes Dr. Rainey, a professor at Southern Polytechnic State University and an STC fellow, who produced major research studies that continue to benefit technical communication practitioners and teachers.

About the Rainey Award and Award Criteria

The Ken Rainey Award seeks to honor STC members who have significantly contributed to the field of technical communication, whether through a lifetime of quality research or a high-quality study or set of related studies.

Most important, the award defines criteria for research that will make a practical impact on our profession. The award recipient is one who has accomplished the following:

• Identified one or more problems of clear and compelling relevance to practitioners and/or academics

• Developed a quality research design, including an appropriate match between methods and the focus and purpose of the inquiry

• Relied upon sound methods for data collection and data analysis

• Applied appropriate measures to ensure ethical protection of study participants

• Reported results in ways that have influenced or have promise to influence practice, theory, or teaching in the field

• Demonstrated positive impact on the field

Each year, STC accepts nominations for this award either through peer- or self-nomination. A selection panel notifies the nominees and invites them to submit informational packets to illustrate how they have met the criteria. The panel reviews these packets and recommends the year’s winner (if any) to the STC Board of Directors.

The Ken Rainey Award is important because it promotes and recognizes achievement in an essential activity for a professional society: building a core of data-based principles and practices that are sustainable by practitioners.

To learn more about the award and the nomination and selection process, visit the STC Web site. The deadline for this year’s nominations is November 1, 2007, and nominations can be submitted to Hillary Hart, Manager of the Ken Rainey Award for Excellence in Research Committee.

Michael Hughes works for IBM Internet Security Systems and is coauthor (with George Hayhoe) of A Research Primer for Technical Communication: Methods, Exemplars, and Analyses; a member of the Ken Rainey Award for Excellence in Research Committee; and Chairman of the Integrated Research Subcommittee for this year’s STC Academic-Industry Leaders Summit.