The questions that needed to be asked about our students' writing emerged during the process of discussing the first batch of portfolios. Again, this echoes Broad's experience. He writes, "From the standpoint of qualitative methods, this late blooming is a good thing because it means this research question could not have inappropriately guided decisions I made in collecting data" (24). Again, the quantitative approach that had been used in the past would not have led us to the central issues that we needed--and still need--to address.