INLS 781, section 002, Fall 2015
Instructor: Dr. Hemminger

This planned schedule lists the assignments and readings for each of the topics we'll cover. Readings are listed in the order they should be read. Other readings or assignments may be assigned as appropriate.




Date

Complete BEFORE Class
(post work 2 HOURS before Class)
We will work on DURING Class

Tuesday
8/18

(01)

Please do the following in preparation for the first class
  • Review the Class webpages
  • Add yourself to the Class Roster (described on course page)
  • Add yourself to the email listserv (described on course page)
  • Obtain textbooks (decribed on course page)
  • Read Punch Chapters 1 (Introduction) and 2 (Proposal)
  • Read example Research Paper on Faceted Search
  • Create your own page on the class work site based on "John Example Doe" template (copy it). Practice editing your page. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RnfSX1wrwKBXwjVTQWapqWrIxxWfW9MDmE0B4jq3fak/edit)
  • Introduction to course and each other.

    Discuss Readings (example research paper, and Punch Chapters).

    Deconstruct Research Paper.

    Reconstruct Research Proposal.

    Thursday
    8/20

    (02)
    Read Punch Chapter 7 (Tactics).

    Post initial proposal idea (1 page) on your class work page under "Proposal Idea".

    Choose two master papers you like as examples and post links on your class work page under "Two masters paper examples" and provide 2-3 sentences indicating why you like each one.
    Discuss Reading.

    Share your proposal and get feedback

    Self work on modifying your proposal.

    Begin searching for research papers releated to your proposal.

     

    Tuesday
    8/25

    (03)

    Post your draft Research Question on your class work page under "Draft Research Question".

    Post research paper you found that is related to your proposal.

    Read Punch chapter 3 (developing effective research proposals).

    Read Wildemuth, Chapter 2, Developing a research question, p11-20

    Read ONE of
    Wildemuth, Chapter 3, Questions originating in library and information practice, p21-26
    Wildemuth, Chapter 4, Descriptions of phenomena or settings, p27-32
    Wildemuth, Chapter 5, Testing hypotheses, p33-39
    Morgan & Wildemuth, Chapter 6, Questions related to theory, p40-47

    Review Readings.

    Discuss how to Frame a Research Question.

    Small group review of individual Research Questions and Related Research paper.

    Thursday
    8/27

    (04)
    Choose and post your finalized Research Question on your class work page under "Research Question Final Draft".

    Read Punch Chapter 4 (The role of theory and dealing with the literature).
    Discuss searching once you have a given research question.

    Review Search Slides.

    In class small group searching practice.

     

    Tuesday
    9/1

    (05)

    Read Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review

    Read Pratical Assessment, Research and Evaluation

    Do a literature search on your research question and identify and post your initial literature search plan (20+ articles), and writeup of our search parameters on your litreview subpage on your class work page under "Initial Literature Review".

    Discuss readings.

    Break into small groups to share your final research question, search plan, and articles discovered so far. For each of four people take 10 minutes for everyone else in group to search on your topic and give help give you additional suggestions (literature, or improvements to search plan). (randomly assigned not by speciality??).

    Thursday
    9/3

    (06)
    Review faculty expertise, identify 2-3 potential faculty advisers for your masters thesis. Post them to your class work page under "Potential Faculty Advisors".

    Increase your literature review to include 50+ items (total). Group your literature into thematic sections. Post under "Literature Review 2nd Draft". See example under Joe Doe.

    Review choice of advisers.

    Run a whole EXPERIMENT from start to finish in one class!!

     

    Tuesday
    9/8

    (07)

    Post narrative draft version of literature review. It should now be taking a narrative form, where you describe the research in each section (note this is just beginning of this narrative form, based on abstracts of your articles). Please write this draft in separate Google Doc and link it from your class work page under "Literature Review Narrative Draft".

    Review Qualitiatve results from last class' experiment

    Small group review of each group members literature review narrative draft.

    General discussion of proposal format.

    Thursday
    9/10

    (08)
    Have finalized advisor, including getting their sign-off.

    Post a link your Google Doc initial draft of full proposal (Introduction, Literature Review drafts in place, rest stubbed out) in your class work page under "Draft of Full Proposal". See example under John Doe.

    Read Punch chapter 5 (Methods).

    Read either the Qualitative or the Quantitative Proposal Planning Guide Methodology. Then copy the appropriate version from John Doe subpages (Qualitative Methods Plan, or Qualitative Methods Plan) to a subpage of your class work page. When writing please use a different font or color so your responses stand out from the questions.

    General discussion of data collection methods, strengths and weaknesses.

    Exericse: possible data collection methods

    Example to critique (?).

     

    Tuesday
    9/15

    (09)
    Post rough draft of research design. Use Data Collection Worksheet as a guideline. Copy the section(s) relevant to your work and add your responses to the questions. Make a new subpage under your class work page entitled "Data Collection" to hold your work.

    Read, if appropriate, one chapter selected from Part II (Research Designs and Sampling.

    Additional recommended readings on the various data collection and analysis methods we'll discuss are available here; use this list to find additional information on the methods you'll be using.

    General discussion of research approaches/designs

    Small Group discussion. Each member presents their research design (data collection and analysis) and receives feedback from their group members. Groups based on similarity of method.

    Instructor feedback for individual proposals

    Thursday
    9/17

    (10)
    Post final draft of research design inside of your "Draft of Full Proposal".

    Find two additional readings (and study them carefully). First one should be an explanation of the methodology (textbook, webpage, or methods paper. Second one should be a research paper that uses same/similar methodology (hopefully for a similar design). Post a link to both of these two papers in your class work page under "Two Readings with related Research Methods".

    Group discussion of strengths and weaknesses of selected data collection methods.

    General discussion of IRB process and ethical challenges.

     

    Tuesday
    9/22

    (11)

    Read either Qualitative Analysis (Wildemuth Chapter 30), OR for Quantitative Data one of Chapters 33 (Descriptive Statistics), 34 (Frequencies, cross-tabulation, chi-square), 36 (Correlation), or 37 (T-tests and ANOVA).

    Do one of the three Data Analysis Exercises (under Class Exercises on class work page), and post your work to a subpage of your class work page entitled "Data Analysis Exercise".

    In Class exercise on data analysis.
    Thursday
    9/24

    (12)
    Post Draft of your full Methods Section. It should be published as an updated version of Methods section in your Full Proposal doc.

    Read either Wildemuth Chapter 13 (Sampling for extensive studies) or Chapter 14 (intensive studies)
    Sampling and Recruitment discussion.

    In class exercise, each group will analyze one of their members research designs (volunteer or Dr. H chooses). Then review as class.

    In your small group, chose one of the high quality masters papers. to review, and then do a group design critique of the paper assigned to each of the small "methods" groups.

     

    Tuesday
    9/29

    (13)

    Read Punch chapters 6 (writing proposal), chapter 8 (examples) and re-read chapter 7 (tactics).

    Review the previous high quality masters paper your group selected last class. Post your review under group's entry in "Quality Writing Reviews" under class examples. Discuss what you liked about their writing.

    Critique the research design of the master's paper your group chose to critique. Post your review under group's entry in "Research Design Critique" under class examples.

    Review Readings

    Discuss how to critique a research plan.

    Each small group will present on their chosen "high quality" masters paper, and it's strengthns and what they would recommend about it to other readers.

    Each small group will present on their chosen critiqued masters paper, based on the guidelines we reviewed last class.

    Thursday
    10/1

    (14)
    Post your reviews of your other group members research plans as comments on their google doc of their Draft of Final Proposal.

    LAST CLASS! You're (almost) Done!

    Resolving any unsettled questions: Q&A

    Critiquing Research Plans, by example and then through in class exercise to review each others in small groups

    Course evaluations (be sure you have your laptop)!

    Individual review with instructor as needed

     

    Thursday
    10/8

    Final Version of Proposal Due. Be sure the link under "Full Proposal Final Draft" on your class work page points to your final draft. Absolute final deadline is midnight except in case of prior arrangement or emergencies.

    You're all done!!

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    This page was last modified on August 19th 2014 by Bradley Hemminger. Address questions and comments about this page to him at bmh@ils.unc.edu.
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