Instructor
Xiaolong (Luke) Zhang, Ph.D.
RM 6, SIRLS
(520) 621-5219
xiaolong at u dot arizona dot edu
Office hour: TBD or by appointment

Teaching Assistant
Trevor Smith
Office hours: TBD

Class Meeting
Education 333
Wednesday, 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Introduction

This course is intended to introduce SIRLS students to the fundamentals of research methods seen in library and information science. The emphasis will be on the nature, role and value of various research methods. Major topics covered include:

1) Quantitative data analysis (descriptive, hypothesis tests, analysis of variance, etc.)

2) Surveys

3) Experiments

4) Interviews

5) Case studies

Objectives

After this course, students should be able to:

1) Understand the merits of different research methods and identify appropriate strategies for problems in their own working environment;

2) Conduct basic research design, execute research plan, and analyze research data;

3) Evaluate relevant research projects;

4) Identify research results which can be applied to their own library or information centre.

Required Textbook and Readings

Text: Gravetter & Wallnau, Essential Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, 5th Ed.

Coursepack for the course (Fast copy)

Class Participation

Attending class is required. If students cannot come, they should let the instructor know beforehand. Students are expected to engage in class discussion actively.

Homework

Homework should be submitted before each class. Solution sets will be available after. Students are strongly encouraged to form study groups. Learning from peer students is critical. However, discussion should be only limited to homework questions and general approaches to solutions, not specific answers. Students must write down answers by their own. Standards of must be respected. Students must comply with professional and academic ethics as stated in the University of Arizona's Code of Academic Integrity.

Exams

There will be a take-home midterm exam.

There will be an open-book, in-class final exam.

Grades

Homework 60%

Midterm 20%

Final 15%

Class participation 5%

A=85-100

B=65-85

C=65 and below

Schedules

Week 1 (1/12/05): Class Introduction

• Busha, C.H. (1981). Library Science Research: the path to progress. In Busha, C. (Ed.) A Library Science Research Reader and Bibliographic Guide. pp.1-37 Littleton, Colo: Libraries Unlimited.
• Brooks, T. (1989). The Model of Science and Scientific Models in Librarianship. Library Trends. 38. Fall 1989. 237-249.
• Lynch, M.J. (1984). Research in Librarianship: an uneasy connection. Library Trends. 32, 4. 367-383.
• Grover, R. & R. C. Greer. (1991). The Cross-disciplinary Imperative of LIS Research. in McClure, C & Hernon, P. (Eds.) Library and Information Science Research. 101-113, Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.

Week 2 (1/19/05): Research: Reliability, Validity, Types of Research and Ethics

• 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.
• Enger, K.B., Quirk, G & Stewart, J. (1989). Statistical Methods Used by Authors of Library and Information Science Journal Articles. Library and Information Science Research. 11, 37-46.
• Online readings on research ethics

Week 3 (1/26/05): Quantitative Data Analysis Foundation: Variables, Data Presentation, Measures of Central Tendency

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 1-3
• Wainer, H. (1984). How to Display Data Badly. American Statistician, 38, 2. 137-147.

Week 4 (2/2/05): Quantitative Data Analysis Foundation: Measures of Variability, Normal Distribution, Probability.

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 4-7

Week 5 (2/9/05): Research Design: Experimental Design I

• Campbell, D & Stanley, J.(1963). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Reprinted from Handbook of Research on Teaching. Chicago,IL.: Rand McNally College Publishing Company.

Week 6 (2/16/05): Research Design: Experimental Design II

Week 7 (2/23/05): Survey Design

• Bookstein, A. (1985). Questionnaire Research in a Library Setting. Journal of Academic Librarianship. 11. Mar, 24-28.
• Edwards, J. E., Thomas, M. D., Rosenfeld, P., & Booth-Kewley, S. (1996) How to conduct Organizational surveys: Ch 2-5, SAGE Publications.

Week 8 (3/2/05): Hypothesis Testing, t tests

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 8-10

Take-home mid-term exam

Week 9 (3/9/05): Analysis of variance

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 11, 13-14

Week 10 (Spring Break): No Class

Week 11 (3/23/05): Estimation, Correlation, and Regression

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 12, 15

Week 12 (3/30/05): Chi-Square

• Gravetter & Wallnau, Chapter 16

Week 13 (4/6/05): Qualitative Methods: Interview

• Chalmers, A. (1978) What is this thing called Science? Chapter 8: Theories as
• Spradley, J. P. (1997) The Ethnographic Interview pp 1-39. International Thomson Publishing

Week 14 (4/13/05): Qualitative Methods: Case Studies

• Eisenhardt, K. M (1989) Building Theories from Case Study Research. Academy of Management Review 14:4, 532-550
• Williams, R. (1986) Public Library Development in the United States. Journal of Library History, 2(1), pp. 177-201.

Week 15 (4/20/05): Qualitative Data Analysis and Qualitative vs. Quantities,

• McGrath, J. (1982). Dilemmatics: The study of research choices and dilemmas. In J. McGrath, J. Martin, & R. Kulka (Eds.), Judgment calls in research (pp. 69-102). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
• Klein, K. J., Dansereau, F., & Hall, R. J. (1994). Levels issues in theory development, data collection, and analysis. Academy of Management Review, 19, 195-229.

Week 16 (4/27/05): Research Report/Proposal Writing and Class Review

• SSRC: The Art of Writing Proposals
• Readings on writing NSF and NIH grants

Week 17 (5/4/05): In-class final exam