time: Monday and Wednesday, 9:30-10:45 AM
location: Manning Hall, Room 307
instructor: Diane Kelly, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
email: dianek [at] email [.] unc [.] edu
telephone: 919.962.8065
office: Manning Hall, Room 204
office hours: Monday, 11:00-1:00 and by appointment
home page: http://ils.unc.edu/~dianek/
Description
780 research methods (3). Prerequisite: completion of twelve semester hours including INLS 500 and (INLS 501 or 509). An introduction to research methods used in library and information science. Includes the writing of a research proposal.
Objectives
Students will gain an understanding of the concepts and terminology used in social science research and of the methods used to perform this research. This course introduces students to: (1) scientific inquiry and ethics; (2) research design and the various methodological approaches used to collect data including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches; and (3) basic techniques for data analysis. Course assignments include take-home and in-class exercises, peer-review workshops, the writing of a research proposal, and a final examination.
Primary Texts
Babbie, E. (2007). The practice of social research (11th ed.). CA: Wadsworth. [unc bookstore][required]
Pyrczak, F. (2005). Evaluating research in academic journals (3rd Edition). CA: Pyrczak Publishing. [select portions - handout]
Additional Readings
Agosto, D. E., & Hughes-Hassell, S. (2005). People, places and questions: An investigation of the everyday life information-seeking behaviors of urban young adults. Library and Information Science Research, 27(2), 141-163.
Amin, A., Ossenbruggen, J., Hardman, L., & Nispen, A. (2008). Understanding cultural heritage experts' information seeking needs. Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL '08), Pittsburgh, PA, 39-47.
Bao, X.-M. (2003). A study of web-based interactive reference services via academic library home pages. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 42(3), 250-256.
Bates, M. J. (2005). An introduction to metatheories, theories and models. In K.E. Fisher, S. Erdelez and L. E. F. McKechnie (Eds.), Theories of Information Behavior, (pp. 1-24). Information Today, Inc.
Fisher, Edelez and McKechnie’s book, Theories of Information Behavior, read the following short descriptions of some theories that have been used in ILS:
- Nahl, Affective Load (pp. 39-43)
- Mon, Face Threat (pp. 149-152)
- Naumer, Flow Theory (pp. 153-157)
- Katopol, Library Anxiety (pp. 235-238)
- Case, Principle of Least Effort (pp. 289-292)
Fiske, S. T. (2004). Mind the gap: In praise of informal sources of formal theory. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(2), 132-137.
Hernon, P., & Schwartz, C. (2007). A need for a greater commitment in the profession to research and evaluation (editorial). Library & Information Science Research, 29, 161-162.
Joho, H., & Jose, J. M. (2008). Effectiveness of additional representations for the search result presentation on the Web. Information Processing & Management, 44(1), 226-241.
Lin, S. (2008). Job satisfaction of information technology workers in academic libraries. Library and Information Science Research, 30(2), 115-121.
Marby, C. H. (2003). The reference interview as partnership: An examination of librarian, library user, and social interaction. The Reference Librarian, 83/84, 41-56.
Marshall, C. (1997). Annotation: From paper books to the digital library. Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL '97), Philadelphia, PA, 131-140.
O'Connor, D. O., & Park, S. (2001). Crisis in LIS research capacity (guest editorial). Library & Information Science Research, 23, 103-106.
Rieh, S. Y. (2002) Judgment of information quality and cognitive authority in the Web. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(2), pp. 145-161.
Ryan, K. J., Brady, J. V., Cooke, R. E., Height, D. I., Jonsen, A. R., King, P., Lebacqz, K., Louisell, D. W., Seldin, D., Stellar, E., & Turtle, R. H. (1979). The Belmont Report. [available online at: http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/belmont.html]
Shachaf, P., & Horowitz, S. (2006). Are virtual reference services color blind? Library & Information Science Research, 28, 501-520.
Williams, J. F., & Winston, M. D. (2003). Leadership competencies and the importance of research methods and statistical analysis in decision making and research and publication: A study of citation patterns. Library & Information Science Research, 25, 387-402.