IRLS 506 Outline.

Last altered 6/4/03 This is under revision, but should be up to date shortly.

An on campus lecture course in the University of Arizona amounts to 37 1/2 hours of instruction spread through a semester. Our 'topics' will be the virtual counterpart of about 30 one and a quarter hour lectures, delivered at a rate of three to four a week. There will be notes, readings, discussion groups, and possibly conferencing (or online chat).

The course will consist of lectures and discussion of common readings. Emphasis will be placed on the student's ability to analyze and critique published research in the field.

Readings

Set text

Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials, Pyrczak Publishing, ISBN 1-884585-22-1 [I have the second edition, there is a third edition available now.]. Buy it from the publisher, http://www.pyrczak.com/ You won't need it until a few weeks into the course.

There is a package of required readings.

We will put up this readings packet online-- it will be accessible from within the password protection of the course. The files are Acrobat pdf files and can be downloaded and printed (for my taste, you're better off buying the coursepack than downloading and printing the files, but over to you...) We should also be able to arrange for the bookstore to supply the packets.

There are good online sources, such as

Hyperstat Online

Research Methods Knowledge Base Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd Edition. Internet WWW page, at URL: <http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/index.htm> (version current as of April 09, 1999).

VassarStats

The Topics

1: Introduction

Aims and objectives of course. What is research? Why do we teach research methods to students of information?

Readings

None.

2: History of Enquiry

The history of enquiry: philosophy, the institutional organization of enquiry, and the rise of statistical thinking.

Readings

None.

3: Research in Information and Library Science

Library education in the USA. Funding of research, and why it is important. Publishing research. Information and Library Science research today.

Readings

Shera, Jesse "Darwin, Bacon, and Research in Librarianship" Library Trends 13:141-149 (1964). pp. 141-141. In coursepack.

Lynch, Mary Jo "Research and Librarianship: An Uneasy Connection" Library Trends 32/4(1984) pp 367-383. In coursepack.

Johnson, Richard D. "Current Trends in Library Journal Editing" Library Trends 36 (Spring, 1988) 659-672. In coursepack.

Grover, Robert and Greer, Roger C. [1991], 'The Cross-Disciplinary Imperative of LIS Research', Library and Information Science Research, 101-113. In coursepack.

Brooks, Terrence A. [1989], 'The Model of Science and Scientific Models in Librarianship', Library Trends, 38(2), 1989, 237-249. In coursepack.

4: Sociology of Research: Paradigms

Kuhn distinguished normal science from revolutionary science. Most research is normal science in that it takes place within a certain framework or world view or paradigm which defines the problems and lays out the techniques for solving those problems. We need to be aware that there are such things as paradigms that often they lay behind specific research.

Readings

Chalmers, A. F. [1978]. What Is This Thing Called Science? Milton Keynes, England: The Open University Press., Theories as Structures: 2. Kuhn's Paradigms. What Is This Thing Called Science? Chapter 8. In coursepack.

A glance at Kuhn, T.S. [1962], The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, would not go astray

5: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science

Induction and deduction.Inductivism and Hypothetico-deductivism. Falsification and objectivity (via replicability). Social sciences. Operationalism.

Readings

There are no readings for these notes, although if you have access and are interested you could try

Hempel, C.G., Philosophy of science, Chapter 2

Chalmers, A.F., What is this thing called science ?, opening chapters.

6: Scientific Method in Social Science I: Theories, Hypotheses, Concepts, Constructs, and Variables

Steps in the scientific approach. Theory and hypothesis development. Elements of a theory. Concepts, constructs, and variables.

Readings

Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials. Set text.

Busha, Charles H. and Stephen P. Harter. [1980], 'Research and Scientific Method', Research methods in librarianship : techniques and interpretation New York : Academic Press, 1980. 3-29. In coursepack.

7: Scientific Method in Social Science II: Evidence, Reliability and Validity

Bayesianism. Reliability and validity. Introducing construct validity, internal validity, and external validity.

Readings

Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials Read Topic 27 and understand the graphic of the gun and target.

Maier, Mark H. "Demography" chapter 2 of his The Data Game: Controversy in Social Science Statistics M.E. Sharpe, 1991, pages 9-28.. I think this is omitted from the paper coursepack (because it would cost an extra $10 to include it). This reading relates to evidence.

There is much valuable material at the Chance site-- well worth your while to fossick around from time to time.

8 : Introduction to Types of Research and Ethics

Research continuum. Archival research. Lab experiments. Quantitative versus qualitative. Field research. Ethics

Readings

Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials Read Topics 9-12

Roy, Donald [1952], 'Quota Restriction and Goldbricking in a Machine Shop', American Journal of Sociology, 57, 427-442. First two pages in coursepack

9: Measurement, Scales of Measurement, and Validity and Reliability of Instruments

Scales of measurement. Instruments and their Validity and Reliability.

Readings

Patten[2000], Notes 23-31, 39

Levels of measurement ,http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/measlevl.htm

Maier, Mark H. Demography chapter 2 of his The Data Game: Controversy in Social Science Statistics M.E. Sharpe, 1991, pages 9-28. In coursepack.

And, if you can get hold of a copy somewhere, chapter 2 of Susan Faludi's Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women (Crown, 1991) which covers many of the same studies that Maier talks about. It would be in the package, but we couldn't get copyright permission.

10: Experimental, or Research, Design Issues I

Detecting causal factors. Experimental design. Problems and Limitations on Research Design R.A.Fisher's work. Lesser goals. Quasi-experimental design. Designs for Library and Information Science

Readings

Patten[2000], Notes 32, 35, 36

Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley [1963], 'Experimental and Quasi Experimental Designs for Research',, Chapter 5 of N.L. Gage (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching Rand McNally, 1963. 1-76 In coursepack.

(advanced and distinctly optional) Howson, Colin and Peter Urbach [1993], Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, Chicago: Open Court Chapter 10 Section d and Chapter 11

11: Experimental, or Research, Design Issues 2

Threats to validity. Reliability. Internal validity. External validity. The typical process for Library and Information Science Research

Readings

Patten[2000], Notes 33, 34.

Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley [1963], 'Experimental and Quasi Experimental Designs for Research', Chapter 5 of N.L. Gage (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching Rand McNally, 1963. 1-76 In coursepack.

12: Sampling I

Probability sampling. Random selection and random assignment. Paradox of random sampling and sampling errors.

Readings

Patten[2000], Notes 17-22

13: Sampling II

Non-probability sampling. Sample size. Some further remarks on sampling for estimation.

Readings

Patten[2000], Notes 17-22

(advanced and distinctly optional, but very good on this topic) Howson, Colin and Peter Urbach [1993], Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, Chicago: Open Court Chapter 10 Section d and Chapter 14 Section f.

14: The Research Proposal and the Research Report

A Literature Review. The Research Proposal. The Research Report

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 14-16

SSRC: The Art of Writing Proposals

Hints for Writing Successful NIH grants

15: Introduction to Statistics: Descriptive Statistics I

Graphs. Normal curves. Measures of Central Tendency. Skew.

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 43,44

Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2

Wainer, H. (1984). How to Display Data Badly. American Statistician, 38, 2. 137-147. In coursepack.

Glossary of statistical terms

Displaying data

Chance

Histogram explorer This works well.

Statiscope will show you means, and medians (but not modes, I think)

16: Descriptive Statistics II: Measures of Variability

Standard deviations. Graphic measures. Interpreting Descriptive Statistics, and Various Rules of Thumb

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 45,46

Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2

Statiscope

17: Descriptive Statistics III: Normal curve, z, and area under the curve

Area under the curve. z- curve.

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 45

Hyperstat Online Chapter 5

18: Descriptive Statistics IV: Correlation I

Correlation and causation: what it is all about. Scatterplots

Readings

Hyperstat Online Chapter 3

19: Descriptive Statistics V: Correlation II

Lambda and an introduction to Chi squared.

Readings

Hyperstat Online Chapter 3

20: Descriptive Statistics VI: Correlation III

Linear correlation. r-squared, Pearson, and Spearman.

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 47

Hyperstat Online Chapter 3

21: Probability

An introduction to the philosophy, mathematics, and statistics of probability theory.

Readings

Hyperstat Online Chapter 4 Do not bother with binomial distribution.

22: Inferential Statistics I : Estimation

The general idea. Point and interval estimation. Confidence intervals. Central Limit Theorem.

Readings

Hyperstat Online Scan through (read Overviews, then nibble) Chapters 7, 8 and then 6.

23: Inferential Statistics II: Hypothesis Testing

Fisher's theory on Hypothesis testing. The Neyman-Pearson Theory of Significant Tests. Bayesianism

Readings

Hyperstat Online

24: Inferential Statistics III: Tests that you might meet: Chi square

Chi- squared.

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 41,42

Hyperstat Online

25: Inferential Statistics IV: Tests you might meet: t and ANOVA

t test and analysis of variance

Readings

Patten [2000], Notes 48,50

Hyperstat Online

26: What might go on in Information Science Research I: Evaluation Research.

Evaluation research. Steps in evaluation research.

Readings

None.

27: What might go on in Information Science Research II: Qualitative Research

Readings

Cooper, M. (1990). Perspectives on Qualitative Research with Quantitative Implications.: Studies in Information Management. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 31, 2. 105-112. In coursepack.

Davis, C.H. (1990). On Qualitative Research. Library and Information Science Research. 12, 327-328. In coursepack.

28: What might go on in Information Science Research III: Surveys and Questionnaires

Readings

Moran, B. (1985). Survey Research for Librarians. Southeastern Librarian. 35, 78-81. In coursepack.

Bookstein, A. (1985). Questionnaire Research in a Library Setting. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 11. Mar , 24-28. In coursepack.

29: What might go on in Information Science Research IV: Bibliometrics and Scientometrics

Using statistics or scientific methods on documents and means of communication.

Readings

Simpson, I. (1988). Bibliometrics, in Basic Statistics for Librarians, 3rd ed. 177-192. London: Lib Assn. In coursepack.

Sengupta, I. (1992). Bibliometrics, Informetrics, Scientometrics and Librametrics: an Overview. Libri, 42, 2. 75-98. In coursepack.

Read the Simpson first.

	An on campus lecture course in the University of Arizona amounts to 37 1/2 hours of instruction spread through a semester. Our 'topics' will be the virtual counterpart of about 30 one and a quarter hour lectures, delivered at a rate of three to four a week. There will be notes, readings, discussion groups, and possibly conferencing (or online chat). The course will consist of lectures and discussion of common readings. Emphasis will be placed on the student's ability to analyze and critique published research in the field.
Readings	Set text Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials, Pyrczak Publishing, ISBN 1-884585-22-1 [I have the second edition, there is a third edition available now.]. Buy it from the publisher, http://www.pyrczak.com/ You won't need it until a few weeks into the course. There is a package of required readings. We will put up this readings packet online-- it will be accessible from within the password protection of the course. The files are Acrobat pdf files and can be downloaded and printed (for my taste, you're better off buying the coursepack than downloading and printing the files, but over to you...) We should also be able to arrange for the bookstore to supply the packets. There are good online sources, such as Hyperstat Online Research Methods Knowledge Base Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, 2nd Edition. Internet WWW page, at URL: <http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/index.htm> (version current as of April 09, 1999). VassarStats
The Topics
1: Introduction	Aims and objectives of course. What is research? Why do we teach research methods to students of information?
Readings	None.
2: History of Enquiry	The history of enquiry: philosophy, the institutional organization of enquiry, and the rise of statistical thinking.
Readings	None.
3: Research in Information and Library Science	Library education in the USA. Funding of research, and why it is important. Publishing research. Information and Library Science research today.
Readings	Shera, Jesse "Darwin, Bacon, and Research in Librarianship" Library Trends 13:141-149 (1964). pp. 141-141. In coursepack. Lynch, Mary Jo "Research and Librarianship: An Uneasy Connection" Library Trends 32/4(1984) pp 367-383. In coursepack. Johnson, Richard D. "Current Trends in Library Journal Editing" Library Trends 36 (Spring, 1988) 659-672. In coursepack. Grover, Robert and Greer, Roger C. [1991], 'The Cross-Disciplinary Imperative of LIS Research', Library and Information Science Research, 101-113. In coursepack. Brooks, Terrence A. [1989], 'The Model of Science and Scientific Models in Librarianship', Library Trends, 38(2), 1989, 237-249. In coursepack.
4: Sociology of Research: Paradigms	Kuhn distinguished normal science from revolutionary science. Most research is normal science in that it takes place within a certain framework or world view or paradigm which defines the problems and lays out the techniques for solving those problems. We need to be aware that there are such things as paradigms that often they lay behind specific research.
Readings	Chalmers, A. F. [1978]. What Is This Thing Called Science? Milton Keynes, England: The Open University Press., Theories as Structures: 2. Kuhn's Paradigms. What Is This Thing Called Science? Chapter 8. In coursepack. A glance at Kuhn, T.S. [1962], The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, would not go astray
5: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science	Induction and deduction.Inductivism and Hypothetico-deductivism. Falsification and objectivity (via replicability). Social sciences. Operationalism.
Readings	There are no readings for these notes, although if you have access and are interested you could try Hempel, C.G., Philosophy of science, Chapter 2 Chalmers, A.F., What is this thing called science ?, opening chapters.
6: Scientific Method in Social Science I: Theories, Hypotheses, Concepts, Constructs, and Variables	Steps in the scientific approach. Theory and hypothesis development. Elements of a theory. Concepts, constructs, and variables.
Readings	Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials. Set text. Busha, Charles H. and Stephen P. Harter. [1980], 'Research and Scientific Method', Research methods in librarianship : techniques and interpretation New York : Academic Press, 1980. 3-29. In coursepack.
7: Scientific Method in Social Science II: Evidence, Reliability and Validity	Bayesianism. Reliability and validity. Introducing construct validity, internal validity, and external validity.
Readings	Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials Read Topic 27 and understand the graphic of the gun and target. Maier, Mark H. "Demography" chapter 2 of his The Data Game: Controversy in Social Science Statistics M.E. Sharpe, 1991, pages 9-28.. I think this is omitted from the paper coursepack (because it would cost an extra $10 to include it). This reading relates to evidence. There is much valuable material at the Chance site-- well worth your while to fossick around from time to time.
8 : Introduction to Types of Research and Ethics	Research continuum. Archival research. Lab experiments. Quantitative versus qualitative. Field research. Ethics
Readings	Patten Mildred L.[2000], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials Read Topics 9-12 Roy, Donald [1952], 'Quota Restriction and Goldbricking in a Machine Shop', American Journal of Sociology, 57, 427-442. First two pages in coursepack
9: Measurement, Scales of Measurement, and Validity and Reliability of Instruments	Scales of measurement. Instruments and their Validity and Reliability.
Readings	Patten[2000], Notes 23-31, 39 Levels of measurement ,http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/measlevl.htm Maier, Mark H. Demography chapter 2 of his The Data Game: Controversy in Social Science Statistics M.E. Sharpe, 1991, pages 9-28. In coursepack. And, if you can get hold of a copy somewhere, chapter 2 of Susan Faludi's Backlash: the Undeclared War Against American Women (Crown, 1991) which covers many of the same studies that Maier talks about. It would be in the package, but we couldn't get copyright permission.
10: Experimental, or Research, Design Issues I	Detecting causal factors. Experimental design. Problems and Limitations on Research Design R.A.Fisher's work. Lesser goals. Quasi-experimental design. Designs for Library and Information Science
Readings	Patten[2000], Notes 32, 35, 36 Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley [1963], 'Experimental and Quasi Experimental Designs for Research',, Chapter 5 of N.L. Gage (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching Rand McNally, 1963. 1-76 In coursepack. (advanced and distinctly optional) Howson, Colin and Peter Urbach [1993], Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, Chicago: Open Court Chapter 10 Section d and Chapter 11
11: Experimental, or Research, Design Issues 2	Threats to validity. Reliability. Internal validity. External validity. The typical process for Library and Information Science Research
Readings	Patten[2000], Notes 33, 34. Campbell, Donald T. and Julian C. Stanley [1963], 'Experimental and Quasi Experimental Designs for Research', Chapter 5 of N.L. Gage (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching Rand McNally, 1963. 1-76 In coursepack.
12: Sampling I	Probability sampling. Random selection and random assignment. Paradox of random sampling and sampling errors.
Readings	Patten[2000], Notes 17-22
13: Sampling II	Non-probability sampling. Sample size. Some further remarks on sampling for estimation.
Readings	Patten[2000], Notes 17-22 (advanced and distinctly optional, but very good on this topic) Howson, Colin and Peter Urbach [1993], Scientific Reasoning: The Bayesian Approach, Chicago: Open Court Chapter 10 Section d and Chapter 14 Section f.
14: The Research Proposal and the Research Report	A Literature Review. The Research Proposal. The Research Report
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 14-16 SSRC: The Art of Writing Proposals Hints for Writing Successful NIH grants
15: Introduction to Statistics: Descriptive Statistics I	Graphs. Normal curves. Measures of Central Tendency. Skew.
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 43,44 Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2 Wainer, H. (1984). How to Display Data Badly. American Statistician, 38, 2. 137-147. In coursepack. Glossary of statistical terms Displaying data Chance Histogram explorer This works well. Statiscope will show you means, and medians (but not modes, I think)
16: Descriptive Statistics II: Measures of Variability	Standard deviations. Graphic measures. Interpreting Descriptive Statistics, and Various Rules of Thumb
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 45,46 Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2 Statiscope
17: Descriptive Statistics III: Normal curve, z, and area under the curve	Area under the curve. z- curve.
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 45 Hyperstat Online Chapter 5
18: Descriptive Statistics IV: Correlation I	Correlation and causation: what it is all about. Scatterplots
Readings	Hyperstat Online Chapter 3
19: Descriptive Statistics V: Correlation II	Lambda and an introduction to Chi squared.
Readings	Hyperstat Online Chapter 3
20: Descriptive Statistics VI: Correlation III	Linear correlation. r-squared, Pearson, and Spearman.
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 47 Hyperstat Online Chapter 3
21: Probability	An introduction to the philosophy, mathematics, and statistics of probability theory.
Readings	Hyperstat Online Chapter 4 Do not bother with binomial distribution.
22: Inferential Statistics I : Estimation	The general idea. Point and interval estimation. Confidence intervals. Central Limit Theorem.
Readings	Hyperstat Online Scan through (read Overviews, then nibble) Chapters 7, 8 and then 6.
23: Inferential Statistics II: Hypothesis Testing	Fisher's theory on Hypothesis testing. The Neyman-Pearson Theory of Significant Tests. Bayesianism
Readings	Hyperstat Online
24: Inferential Statistics III: Tests that you might meet: Chi square	Chi- squared.
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 41,42 Hyperstat Online
25: Inferential Statistics IV: Tests you might meet: t and ANOVA	t test and analysis of variance
Readings	Patten [2000], Notes 48,50 Hyperstat Online

26: What might go on in Information Science Research I: Evaluation Research.	Evaluation research. Steps in evaluation research.
Readings	None.
27: What might go on in Information Science Research II: Qualitative Research
Readings	Cooper, M. (1990). Perspectives on Qualitative Research with Quantitative Implications.: Studies in Information Management. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 31, 2. 105-112. In coursepack. Davis, C.H. (1990). On Qualitative Research. Library and Information Science Research. 12, 327-328. In coursepack.
28: What might go on in Information Science Research III: Surveys and Questionnaires
Readings	Moran, B. (1985). Survey Research for Librarians. Southeastern Librarian. 35, 78-81. In coursepack. Bookstein, A. (1985). Questionnaire Research in a Library Setting. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 11. Mar , 24-28. In coursepack.
29: What might go on in Information Science Research IV: Bibliometrics and Scientometrics	Using statistics or scientific methods on documents and means of communication.
Readings	Simpson, I. (1988). Bibliometrics, in Basic Statistics for Librarians, 3rd ed. 177-192. London: Lib Assn. In coursepack. Sengupta, I. (1992). Bibliometrics, Informetrics, Scientometrics and Librametrics: an Overview. Libri, 42, 2. 75-98. In coursepack. Read the Simpson first.