What is Curriculum Inquiry

Research sometimes leads to new discoveries and new directions other than the ones originally intended. This chapter began as a study using both quantitative and qualitative methods to learn about the connections between writing and healing. College students who wrote in journals throughout the semester as part of normal classroom practices for an education methods class in reading and writing completed surveys answering questions about their writing and their health. The original goal was to add insights to studies completed a quarter century ago by other researchers to assess similarities and differences. Initial analysis of the data echoed the findings of previous studies: writing is healing. However, the more important observation became that on one of the health survey questions, 92% of the subjects reported experiencing anxiety or stress. Consequently, the research evolved into a social action project to help college students cope with stress and anxiety.