1 Dean - Wynne

Hannah Wynne
Sophie Dean
Ethnographic Proposal

Intro:
Our subject of research will be Jennifer Barclay, an actor-turned-playwright who has produced several
successful plays both internationally and nationally. We will be studying her creative writing as well as any
professional writing she is required to do for her job as a professor and a playwright. Our research will focus
mainly on group interactions related to her script editing, any correspondences between professionals, and
any marketing required to have her script produced. Through our research we hope to gain a better
understanding of how creative writing relates to, or uses, professional writing.
Research Questions:
The goal of our research is to understand what ways a playwright interacts with other professionals via
writing, and how creative writing plays a part in those communications. Our questions include:

How does a playwright interact within the professional workplace?

What happens to their writing when the play is finished?
What other forms of writing besides plays is required for the career?
Is being a university professor common for playwrights?

By answering these questions, we will be able to create a baseline of what it means to pursue a career in
playwriting. We will also be able to apply the information we gather about playwriting to other creative writing
fields, which can widen the scope of our results. It is important for us to gain an understanding of how
creative writing fits within professional writing because we will be able to implement the knowledge to our
personal writing endeavors.

Research Subject:
Jennifer Barclay is a very successful playwright formerly based out of Chicago and California. Her plays
have been performed, and she has performed, both nationally and internationally. She is currently a faculty
member at the University of Marylands department of TDPS. She has held several residencies, received
multiple awards, and is a member of two guilds/collectives.
Ms. Barclay is an invaluable resource who will be able to tell us facets of the field we were not aware of, and
also provide details about the typical tasks, writing pieces, and performances other playwrights participate
in. She will also be able to provide possible performances or writing samples from outside the University,
which will give us a authentic look at her work.

Data Collection Methods:

We plan to conduct outside research to familiarize ourselves with our subjects field of work, and inform our
interview questions as well as our observational notes. To do this, we may consult the writing of various
playwrights associations such as the American Association of Community Theater, along with theater
journals, or encyclopedic information about the profession in general to ensure that we know the proper
terminology.
We will then form a list of questions to ask our subject over the span of a few interviews. The interviews will
provide an opportunity to discover what our subject thinks about her job on a personal level, and learn what

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a day in the life of a playwright actually looks like. Her unique perspective will allow us to see how her
experience is either similar to or different from the outside research we have conducted about her field.
Finally, we will conduct on-site observation where she conducts the bulk of her work. Through observing our
subject in her work environment, we will be able to examine her interactions with others, in person and
through writing, to get a glimpse into the real workings of a professional playwright. This experience will
provide the basis for our ethnography, as we will be able to pay attention to our particular research
questions while observing our subject and closely watch for our answers.

Data Analysis:
We will analyze our observational notes and any other information from our interviews or other interactions
first through the Communication Event Model. We will do this by providing simple descriptions of the
sequences of communication events, such as e-mails, phone calls, and meetings, and then identifying any
patterns that may arise. For any recurring communication events, we will create a symbol and note its
frequency throughout our observation. For example, when we observe email being used to communicate we
can make note of it with a symbol and more easily recognize patterns in our subjects professional writing.
Another mode of data analysis we wish to conduct with our research is using the Genre Ecology Model,
which will help examine how our subject changes her behavior and capabilities by using different tools. We
will look at how she uses mediational texts within her workspace, and analyze how these genres inform her
final script.
Finally, to coordinate the data analysis we conducted using both the CEM and the GEM methods, we will
use the Sociotechnical Graph to compare and contrast which elements can be associated or substituted
between the two modes, and how this information examines our subjects use of professional writing in her
own workplace.

Schedule of Work:
We have sent out our letter of inquiry and have since heard back. She wrote in her response that she would
not be comfortable with us observing her creative writing process, which we both understand and respect.
We have since sent a follow-up email to inquire about what writing pieces she may be able to share with us
and have yet to hear back. We hope to begin scheduling our interviews in the coming weeks.
Deadline for Contacting Research Subject Regarding Interview: 10/28
Conduct Interview: TBD
Transcribe Interview: TBD
Collect Writing Samples: TBD
Conduct Field Visits: Possibly 10/31-11/4 or 11/7-11
Composing Progress Report: Following observation
Analyze Collected Data: 11/17
Write Data and Analysis sections of Ethnography: 11/18
Write Introduction and Conclusion sections of Ethnography: 11/19
Ethnography Final Draft: 12/2