| 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 26 one and a half hour lectures, delivered at a rate of roughly two a week. There will be notes, readings, discussion threads. The course will consist of lectures, discussion course readings and individual research or readings to support assignments. Emphasis will be placed on the student's ability to analyze and critique published research in the field. |
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Readings |
The readings are designed to provide a solid foundation for the lectures/notes. There are often many ways to explain a topic and different approaches appeal to different individuals. As a result, I have provided a great deal of reading material to help explain the topics. If you have read through a chunk of the readings and it all makes sense, please feel free to skim through the rest (just in case there is some new materials) rather than reading multiple versions when you already understand the topic. On the other hand, if you ve read through everything and it still doesn t make sense, I encourage you to contact me immediately rather than attempt to continue your studies without understanding something which may be a building block for the next topic. You will also likely notice that there is often overlap between chapters. This will be apparent when I ask you to re-examine a particular chapter. Keep in mind that you should skip through the part that is not necessarily relevant then again it does provide an opportunity to solidify you knowledge. Required Texts Donnelly, R. A. [2004], The Complete Idiots Guide to Statistics, Alpha Books, ISBN 1-59257-199-9 Patten Mildred L.[2005], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials, Pyrczak Publishing, ISBN 1-884585-22-1 (other editions of this text are usable, but the pagination and indexing may be off) The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized the Twentieth Century, Owl, ISBN 0-805-07134-2 Optional (but really good) Huff, Darrell, [1993], How To Lie With Statistics, Norton, ISBN 0-393-31072-8 I will provide additional readings online within the Content section of D2L. You will need Adobe Acrobat (or something similar) to read these items. There are good online sources, such as & 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). & Gerard E. Dallal, Ph.D , The Little Handbook of Statistical Practice Also check out Research Methods Resources on the WWW |
The Topics |
Please check this frequently. I reserve the right to change this periodically. I will endeavor to ensure that you have at least two weeks notice of any changes. |
1: Introduction |
Aims and objectives of course. What is research? Why do we teach research methods to students of information? |
Readings |
& Salsburg, D., The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century, Chapter 1. |
2: History of Enquiry |
The history of enquiry: philosophy, the institutional organization of enquiry, and the rise of statistical thinking. |
Readings |
& Salsburg, appendix:Timeline |
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. & Lynch, Mary Jo "Research and Librarianship: An Uneasy Connection" Library Trends 32/4(1984) pp 367-383. & Johnson, Richard D. "Current Trends in Library Journal Editing" Library Trends 36 (Spring, 1988) 659-672. & Grover, Robert and Greer, Roger C. [1991], 'The Cross-Disciplinary Imperative of LIS Research', Library and Information Science Research, 101-113. & Brooks, Terrence A. [1989], 'The Model of Science and Scientific Models in Librarianship', Library Trends, 38(2), 1989, 237-249. |
4: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science |
Deduction and Induction. Inductivism and Hypothetico-deductivism. Falsification and replicability. Operationalism. |
Readings |
& Salsburg, Chapter 29 & Donnelly, R. A. [2004], Chapter 1 |
5: 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.[2005], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials. Topics 6,7,8. & 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. |
6: Scientific Method in Social Science II: Evidence, Reliability and Validity |
Bayesianism. Reliability and validity. Introducing construct validity, internal validity, and external validity. |
Readings |
& Salsburg, Chapter 13 & Patten Mildred L.[2005], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials Read Topic 27. & There is much valuable material at the Chance site. |
7 : Introduction to Types of Research and Ethics |
Research continuum. Archival research. Lab experiments. Quantitative versus qualitative. Field research. Ethics |
Readings |
& Patten Mildred L.[2005], 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. |
8: Measurement, Scales of Measurement, and Validity and Reliability of Instruments |
Scales of measurement. Instruments and their Validity and Reliability. |
Readings |
& Patten[2005], Notes 28,29,30 & Levels of measurement ,http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/measlevl.htm |
9: 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 |
Salsburg, Chapter 7 Patten[2005], Notes 34, 38 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. (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 |
10: Experimental, or Research, Design Issues 2 |
Threats to validity. Reliability. Internal validity. External validity. The typical process for Library and InformationScience Research |
Readings |
Patten[2005], Notes 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. |
11: Sampling I |
Probability sampling. Random selection and random assignment. Paradox of random sampling and sampling errors. |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 17 Donnelly, R. A. [2004], Chapter 12 Patten[2005], Notes 19-24 Huff, D. [1993], Chapter 1 |
12: Sampling II |
Non-probability sampling. Sample size. Some further remarks on sampling for estimation. |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 10 Donnelly, R. A. [2004], Chapter 12, continued |
13: The Research Proposal and the Research Report |
A Literature Review. The Research Proposal. The Research Report |
Readings |
Patten [2005], Notes 14-18 |
14. Evaluating Research Reports or Papers |
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Readings |
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15: Introduction to Statistics: Descriptive Statistics I |
Graphs. Normal curves. Measures of Central Tendency. Skew. |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 9 Donnelly R. A., [2004], Chapter 11 Patten [2005], Notes 45 Huff, D. [1993], Chapters 5 & 6 Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2 Wainer, H. (1984). How to Display Data Badly. American Statistician, 38, 2. 137-147. 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 [2005], Notes 46, 47, 48 Hyperstat Online Chapter 1 and 2 |
17: Descriptive Statistics III: Normal curve, z, and area under the curve |
Area under the curve. z- curve. |
Readings |
Patten [2005], Notes 47 Hyperstat Online Chapter 5 |
18: Descriptive Statistics IV: Correlation I |
Correlation and causation: what it is all about. Scatterplots |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 18 Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 20 Hyperstat Online Chapter 3 |
19: Descriptive Statistics V: Correlation II |
Chi squared, Linear correlation, Pearson, and Spearman.. |
Readings |
Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 18 Patten [2005] Notes 42, 43, 49 very good on this is Gerard E. Dallal, Ph.D , The Little Handbook of Statistical Practice in particular Correlation Coefficients |
20: Inferential Statistics I : Estimation |
The general idea. Point and interval estimation. Confidence intervals. Central Limit Theorem. |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 12 Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 13 Hyperstat Online Scan through (read Overviews, then nibble) Chapters 7, 8 and then 6. |
21: Inferential Statistics II: Hypothesis Testing |
Fisher's theory on Hypothesis testing. The Neyman-Pearson Theory of Significant Tests. Bayesianism |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 11 Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 15 |
22: Inferential Statistics III: Tests that you might meet: Chi square |
Chi- squared. |
Readings |
Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 18 Patten [2005], Notes 43, 44 |
23: Inferential Statistics IV: Tests you might meet: t and ANOVA |
t test and analysis of variance |
Readings |
Salsburg, Chapter 5 Donnelly R. A. [2004], Chapter 19 Patten [2005], Notes 51, 52 |
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24: What might go on in Information Science Research I: Evaluation Research. |
Evaluation research. Steps in evaluation research. |
Readings |
None. |
25: What might go on in Information Science Research II: Qualitative Research |
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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. Davis, C.H. (1990). On Qualitative Research. Library and Information Science Research. 12, 327-328. |
26: What might go on in Information Science Research III: Surveys and Questionnaires |
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Readings |
Moran, B. (1985). Survey Research for Librarians. Southeastern Librarian. 35, 78-81. Bookstein, A. (1985). Questionnaire Research in a Library Setting. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 11. Mar , 24-28. |
27: 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. Sengupta, I. (1992). Bibliometrics, Informetrics, Scientometrics and Librametrics: an Overview. Libri, 42, 2. 75-98. |