Generating a Reflexive AI-Assisted Workflow for Academic Writing

Authors

Corey W. Johnson, North Carolina State University at RaleighFollow
Trena M. Paulus, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow

Abstract

Digital research workflows are study designs that intentionally consider the use of technology in meaningful and reflexive ways. While most scholars use digital tools and spaces in their research process, doing so has consequences that are infrequently considered in an intentional way. Especially in this age of generative AI, technology integration into research studies will have an even greater impact and consequences on study outcomes. This paper documents one digital research workflow, the academic writing process, to demonstrate how inviting generative AI to be a writing partner can be done in a reflexive manner. Drawing on Paulus and Lester’s (2023) technological reflexivity framework, we emphasize the need to assess the use and impact of platforms such as ChatGPT on four dimensions of the academic writing workflow: writing methods, writers and their audience, writing outcomes, and the generative AI platform itself. We structure this use case according to Woolf and Silver’s (2018) notions of “strategies” and “tactics,” applied to the academic writing process, combined with Paulus and Lester’s four consequence categories. We include recommendations for navigating and using generative artificial intelligence in future academic writing endeavors.

Keywords

Generative artificial intelligence (AI), digital workflow, academic writing, Chat GPT, technological reflexivity

Author Bio(s)

Corey W. Johnson inquiry focuses on power relations between the dominant and non-dominant groups in leisure. He is also a qualitative research methodologist for social justice. He was co-editor of Leisure Sciences and co-authored Digital Dilemmas: Transforming Gender in Everyday Life; Fostering Social Justice for Qualitative Inquiry; Promiscuous Perspectives: Sex and Leisure; and Contemporary Issues in Leisure among others. He currently has funded projects to decrease gender-based violence online, critique privileged identities, digital systems, and use of apps for developing more-than-romantic-intimate-sexual relations, algorithmic heteronormativity, and white supremacy in profile pics. He has received the Distinguished Researcher Award from The Academy of Leisure Sciences and the MLK Jr. Achieving the Dream Award for his efforts. He enjoys meditation, yoga, the outdoors and travelling with his husband Yancey and dogs, Sedgwick and Harvey.

Treena M. Paulus, Ph.D., is a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at East Tennessee State University where she coordinates the graduate certificate in qualitative research methods. Her Ph.D. is in instructional systems technology from Indiana University-Bloomington with an emphasis on computer-mediated communication. Dr. Paulus specializes in qualitative research technologies, including the development of innovative methodologies for analyzing social media conversations and online learning environments. She is co-author of the 2022 Sage book, Doing Qualitative Research in a Digital World. Dr. Paulus has facilitated numerous workshops in national and international contexts, most recently as a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Humanities and Social Sciences at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland.

Publication Date

12-1-2024

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7634

Recommended APA Citation

Johnson, C. W., & Paulus, T. (2024). Generating a reflexive AI-assisted workflow for academic writing. The Qualitative Report, 29(10), 2772-2792. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2024.7634

ORCID ID

0000-0002-6918-3787

ResearcherID

0000-0002-0579-1644