Abstract
Progression Analysis (PA) is a computer-based method for research on writing in the workplace. As a multilevel-analysis, PA focuses (1) on the situation of the writing process, (2) on the movement of writing throughout the growing text, and (3) on consciously applied strategies. In this chapter, the innovative procedures of PA are presented on behalf of a pedagogically motivated case study out of a national research project.
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This chapter focuses on the innovative aspects of Progression Analysis; the classical implications of interviews and observation are not to be dicussed here. On the discussion of observation and interviews in research into writing processes, see Van der Geest, (1996: 11) or Eigler (1996: 999). On the items investigated in the underlying research project, see Perrin (2001c).
The deadline is the last submission date agreed on. The writer who exceeds his own deadline in the chain of journalistic production forces colleagues on the next production level to make up time, because the last date, the transmission to the reader, is unalterable in most cases. On deadlines in journalistic production, see Bell (1991: 152).
The computer can register and record data for S-Notation and Progression diagrams automatically. To make this happen, the text programs have to be extended by logging modules. We are developing these modules together with the producers of software used for writing and editing by the people investigated. The software for analysing and visualising the steps of the writing processes consists of Excel-modules and of ‘Trace-it,’ which generates S-Notation from the logftle. Trace-it was developed as a student project at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. It is based on S-Notation (Nilsson & Kollberg, 1994; Severinson Eklundh & Kollberg, 1996; and Kollberg & Severinson Eklundh, in this volume).
We do not ask the writers to read and protocol every revision, but ‘as many as possible’. For a discussion of these ‘cues,’ see Greene and Higgins (1994: 123).
For all the excerpts of retrospective protocols we will use the following representation: Slips are also shown in the transcription, PK’s Swiss dialect is translated into English, keeping breaks and reformulations as true to the original as possible. Protocol statements are given as ‘xxx,’ text quotations of the speaker during the verbal protocol are given as «xxx.»
In journalistic text production, possible authorities on the part of the authors are: the media system, the journalistic profession, the media enterprise, the editorial staff, the boss, colleagues — and of course the writer himself, in his role as author, as colleague of the source, as person affected by the subject and so on. On analysis of the author role in journalistic text production, see Van Dijk (1988: 99) or ferrin (1997a: 66 ).
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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Perrin, D. (2002). Progression Analysis (PA): Investigating Writing Strategies in the Workplace. In: Olive, T., Levy, C.M. (eds) Contemporary Tools and Techniques for Studying Writing. Studies in Writing, vol 10. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0468-8_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0468-8_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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