Resources:
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Unit I:
Research and Librarianship
READING:
Read: Pan, Chpts 1-3
Read: APA Manual, Chpt 2 Expression of Ideas; and Chpt 3 APA Editorial Style: Reference Citations in Text
INTRODUCTION
The skills and knowledge you gain in this course will be demonstrated in the course's research project. For a master's level research project, the goals are:
Student is able to:
- make use of appropriate research procedures
- organize primary and secondary information into a meaningful whole
- present the results in acceptable prose
First, you need to know the characteristics of research in library science (and instructional technology). The lecture this week is on the nature of research. It is essential that you understand the type of research generally associated with library science (and instructional technology) and how this contrasts to the type of research generally associated with information science.
LECTURE NOTES
Library science is a professional discipline. Research in a professional discipline has the following characteristics:
- PURPOSE of the research is
- twofold: 1) to increase knowledge about a matter relevant to the practice of the profession and 2) to reinforce the attitude of using objective and systematic approaches in problem solving.
- NATURE of the problem to be researched
- may range anywhere in the realm of human concerns so lon as they also have demonstrated implications for society's professional enterprises.
- CRITERIA for accessing the worth of the research is
- judged mainly by the potential applications of the results and conclusions in professional practice and knowledge.
- REASON for gathering knowledge through research is
- to validate or to bring into question aspects of professional practice,
- to create better practices,
- and generally, to foster and guide the improvement of the profession and its services.
- POSITION on the relevance of values:
- both matters of substance and of value can be legitimate and necessary topics of inquiry; sometimes values are the essential data subjected to study.
- METHODOLOGY of research acceptable:
- methods of investigation are invented or adapted to suit the problems which need to be probed. Investigators freely borrow procedures from the academic discipliines or from other professinal disciplines if they seem to have promise.
Comparison of professional research to research in an academic discipline, such as information science
| Characteristic |
PROFESSIONAL Discipline
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ACADEMIC Discipline
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| PURPOSE of the research |
1) to increase knowledge about a matter relevant to the practice of the profession and2) to reinforce the attitude of using objective and systematic approaches in problem solving
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to increase knowledge in a particular disciplinary field
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| NATURE of the problem to be researched
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may range anywhere in the realm of human concerns so lon as they also have demonstrated implications for society's professional enterprises
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clearly linked to other problems previously studied within the prescribed and academically recognized bounds of the discipline
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| CRITERIA for accessing the worth of the research |
judged mainly by the potential applications of the results and conclusions in professional practice and knowledge.
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assessed chiefly on the basis of the amount it advances knowledge, clarifies or adds to a theory, or stimulates further investigation
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| REASON for gathering knowledge through research |
to validate or to bring into question aspects of professional practice; to create better practice;,and generally, to foster and guide the improvement of the profession and its services
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knowledge is accrued for its own sake
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| POSITION on the relevance of values |
both matters of substance and of value can be legitimate and necessary topics of inquiry; sometimes values are the essential data subjected to study
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Matters of value are deliberately eschewed, except as primary data. The objectivity of the academic scholar is most closely tied to dealing with concepts, ideas, animate or inanimate objects, materials, documents, and events.
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| METHODOLOGY of research acceptable |
methods of investigation are invented or adapted to suit the problems which need to be probed. Investigators freely borrow procedures from the academic disciplines or from other professional disciplines if they seem to have promise
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Each academic discipline has certain especially respected methods, legitimized by the power they have shown in helping uncover or prove matters of importance to the discipline.
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Reference:
Mauch, James E. & Birch, Jack W. (1989). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation (2nd ed.), pp. 8-9. New York: Marcel Dekker.
ASSIGNMENT
- You need to begin thinking about choosing the topic for your course research project (study). First, obtain a record-keeping device, such as a notebook or stack of note cards. Reserve one full page or one note card for each idea/topic. First write a possible title for the topic and then write a sentence or two about what the study might entail and questions the research might answer. For example:
- Emotional and Intellectual Characteristics of Early Readers
- Children who learn to read before starting kindergarten would be studied to learn their emotional and intellectual similarities and differences from one another and from children who learn to read in the conventional way. Questions: Do early readers have different intellectual characteristics from non-early readers? Do early readers have different emotional characteristics from non-early readers?
During this week you should perform quick searches of the literature to identify research articles related to each topic. Review as many abstracts or scan as many articles as possible. This will help you refine and/or revise your topics as well as weed out unpromising topics.
WORK TO BE SUBMITTED
- You were asked to start thinking about research topics/questions. I would like you to select one of your ideas and post to the appropriate thread a title, 1-2 sentences of background, and one question you would like the research to answer.
Journal Entry
Write a narrative describing what you expect to gain from this course, your feelings about completing this course in an online environment. Be sure to mark the entry with the title "BEGINNING REFLECTIONS - FIRST WEEK OF CLASS". (The journal entry should be posted to the appropriate thread.)
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