IS 540: Course Syllabus

Spring, 2007

Thursday evening

321B Communications
 
Office: Communications 455
Phone: 865-974-7918
Email: wrobins1@utk.edu [best way to reach me]
Website: http://web.utk.edu/~wrobinso
Office hours: 2.00 - 5.30 Tuesday
{I may be available at other times. Please check my office. If I'm there, I can probably see you}.

Disabilities

If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a documented disability or if you have emergency information to share, please contact the Office of Disability Services in 2227 Dunford Hall or call them at 865-974-6087 or email <ods@utk.edu>. This will insure that you are properly registered for services. It is also important to discuss these issues with the teacher.

Course Purpose

This course introduces the practice of social science research with some consideration of how this might be useful in information agencies. The course should be helpful for those who consume research while working in information agencies as well as those who will conduct research in order to aid decision-making or as an academic. Please note this course deals with how to do research. It is not a statistics course although statistics will receive some brief consideration. Ideally, the researcher would need a separate course in statistics depending on the nature of the research to be done.

Course Objectives

When the course has been completed, the student should be able to:

• Discuss the importance and utility of research in managing information agencies
• Describe the research process as series of interrelated steps from problem identification to dissemination
• Critically evaluate published research
• Complete a research study with some emphasis on problem statement, literature review, methodology, results and discussion

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course. Some familiarity with problems and issues of concern to libraries and other information agencies is helpful.

Course Format

We meet for nearly three hours each week with an emphasis on teacher lecture. There will be some opportunity for your questions and discussion. This course will be presented in a desktop to desktop mode using Centra software. Knoxville students may attend in the class room or take the course from home. If only one or two students wish to take the course in the classroom, this could become a pc only course.

This is an introductory survey course intended to present basic information about social science research. The course is not comprehensive. Rather, you should leave the course with the feeling that your foot is in the door, and you know enough to continue on your own.

Class attendance is important, but is not required. Attendance will be considered in the student's final grade if course performance is poor. The teacher will post a note on UTKSIS-l if he is unable to meet the class.

Resources

A thoughtful introduction to the library research agenda is found in Research Questions for the Twenty-first Century edited by Mary Jo Lynch and published in Library Trends [ vol 51 (4)].

The required textbook for this course is Understanding Research Methods [5th ed.] by Mildred L. Patten [Pyrczak Publishing]. This is practical, quick and relatively easy. Please skim the whole book as soon as possible so that you will know what's where and gain an overall sense of what research involves.

The recommended textbook for this course is Fred Pyrczak's Evaluating Research in Academic Journals [3d ed.] [Pyrczak Publishing]. His treatment of evaluation is more detailed than that in the teacher's lecture notes and includes much additional information. It should help you with the evaluation assignment.

The student interested in qualitative research and the thesis option should consider Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers by Ritchie and Lewis.

An alternate textbook aimed specifically at LIS professionals is Basic Research Methods For Librarians by Ronald R. Powell and Lynn S. Connaway [Libraries Unlimited].

The student interested in historical research should consider The Modern Researcher [5th or later edition] by Barzun and Graff.

Although there may be some problems, Internet research is increasingly popular. Claire Hewson's [et al] Internet Research Methods: a practical guide [H 61.95 H48 2003] is helpful for the beginner.

There are several useful websites devoted to various aspects of research. Here are a few to begin with.

1. Research Methods in the Social Sciences: An Internet Resource List
2. Resources for Methods in Evaluation and Social Research
3. The Researching Librarian includes web sources useful for the librarian researcher
4. Statistics and Statistical Graphics Resources
5. Against All Odds: Inside Statistics [a video instructional series]

The University of Tennessee Statistical Consulting Service provides a variety of services, including training seminars. Students who will complete a thesis should be familiar with this source.

Course Assignments & Due Dates

Written work must be clearly written and well organized. If in doubt, follow the example in a research periodical of your choice. Margins should be set at one inch all around. Use a 12 point font, double spacing, and page numbering. Include a header with your name and the assignment title on each page. While length is up to you, edit carefully to insure that all is clear and direct. Minimize direct quotations. Style questions may be answered in the Chicago Manual of Style or its popular offspring by Turabian.

Students should deliver their assignments to the BlackBoard DropBox. Knoxville students may deliver their work in class or use the Dropbox. All work should be in .rtf or .doc formats. Do include your full name and your current email address on the first page.

In addition to assignment specifics, all written work will be evaluated using these criteria:

1. Quality of the presentation -- neat and free from error
2. Quality of the writing -- clear, direct, and correct
3. Quality of the organization -- smooth,logical flow of content
4. Quality and amount of reflection, analysis, comparison, and evaluation
5. Use of the appropriate literature

Work will receive a lower grade if it is not written in correct, standard English. Late Assignments may not be accepted unless prior arrangements have been made. Legitimate emergencies are an exception to this policy. If an extension is granted, a late penalty may be imposed in order to be equitable for those students who met the deadline.

The following convention is used in evaluating student work:

• A = 93 - 100 percent [superior]
• B+ = 89 - 92 percent [very good]
• B = 83 - 88 percent [good]
• C+ = 79 - 82 percent [marginal]
• C = 73 - 81 percent [unsatisfactory]

Please see the teacher if you have special needs, objectives, or problems.

Course Assignments

Assignment 1

Find an article reporting some research finding in a popular source such as a news magazine or a newspaper or the equivalent on the web. Please answer these questions:

You may wish to consider these issues mentioned by the American Dietetic Association as the "Ref Flags of Junk Science:"

• Recommendations that promise a quick fix
• Dire warnings of danger...
• Claims that sound too good to be true
• Simplistic conclusions drawn from a complex study
• Recommendations based upon a single study
• Dramatic statements refuted by reputable scientific organizations
• Lists of "good" and "bad" foods [or whatever]
• Recommendations made to help sell a product
• Recommendations based on studies published without peer review
• Recommendations from studies that ignore individual or group differences

1. How did you know that "real" research was involved?
2. Who was responsible for the research? Their affiliation?
3. How is the research presented? Are findings separated from conclusions? Are facts separated from interpretations? Does the research seem valid?
4. How easy would it be to locate a copy of the actual research report?
5. Your conclusions on scholarly or professional research as seen in the popular media?

Worth 20 points.

Assignment 2

Find a research article in a scholarly periodical of your choice. Critique the article on an element by element basis beginning with the title and ending with the references. Conclude with a summary comment on the quality of the research paper as published with specific suggestions for improvement.

Worth 40 points.

Different evaluation checklists are available. Fred Pyrczak"s Evaluating Research in Academic Journals provides detailed guidance and will be useful for those planning on a thesis. You may also wish to review the teacher's lecture notes on the literature review on his website. Here is a rather short list:

• Does the title clearly indicate the subject and the scope of the research?
• Is the abstract informative by briefly presenting problem, method, major findings?
• Does the researcher clearly indicate what she did and why?
• Is the rationale for investigating this problem persuasive?
• Does the literature review provide a clear, helpful context for what follows? When finished reading it, do you understand the "state of the art" and the gap that the research fills?
• Is there a clearly presented hypothesis with some discussion of dependent and independent variables?
• Are variables and values adequately defined [operationally] and discussed?
• Does the method seem appropriate? How were data collected? Does the collection seem free from error or bias? Can it be replicated without undue effort?
• Are study limitations clearly identified and discussed?
• Are findings presented in a clear, understandable way? Are text, tables, and graphs used appropriately and in an understandable manner?
• Are conclusions clearly linked to the findings, i.e. supported by evidence?
• Are recommendations for future research clearly presented and persuasive?
• Is the research paper written correctly and in a clear, direct style?
• In summary, how useful would this paper be to someone interested in research in this area?

Assignment 3: Research Paper

Complete a research project that, on a smaller scale, includes each of the elements of a published research paper. You may select a topic of your choice, but it should be approved by the teacher. I will be pleased to work with you to create a bite-sized research topic of your choice. The purpose of this class is to give you the experience of organizing and completing a research project. The topic itself is not important except that it should be of personal interest. For those interested in doing a thesis, this project should get you started.

Please note that if your research project involves human subjects in a formal way, you will need to have your project approved by the Human Subjects Committee in the College to insure that there is no harm to the subjects. I can tell you how to do that, but the process takes some time.

If at a loss, you may select one of the topics below or reshape them to suit.

Each of the major parts of the research project is worth 100 points. These parts are:

1. Introduction and problem statement
2. Review of the literature
3. Methodology
4. Results
5. Discussion [Conclusions and recommendations for further research].

Both the text and the materials on the IS 540 website should be helpful. The slide sets for the course will be available on BlackBoard a few days before class.

You should also look at published articles in appropriate periodicals to see how published authors have handled these sections [understand that your research effort likely involve only a few cases and a much less extensive treatment] Having a model or template substantially reduces the research effort.

The introduction and problem section answers these questions:

• What is the problem area or context?
• What is the problem?
• Why is the problem important?
• What are the problem questions that your research might answer?

The review of the literature answers these questions:

• How much literature has been published on this problem topic?
• How would you characterize the literature in terms of recency, leading authors, and approach?
• Which research is most closely related to your study and most useful?
• What does the research literature tell us about the problem? To what degree does it answer the problem questions and thus verify the need for your research? What are the gaps in the literature? What are the strengths?

The quantitative research methods section answers these questions [qualitative research is similar but different]:

• What are your research questions or hypotheses?
• What are your assumptions?
• What are the major variables and values? Which are dependent and independent? 
• What are your operational definitions for the variables to be studied?
• What sort of a sample will you draw? How will you insure that it is representative?

The results section answers these questions:

• What are your major and minor results or findings?

The discussion section answers these questions:

• So what? To what degree does your research answer the problem question or hypothesis? What can you now say about the problem area? What does the evidence suggest?
• What recommendations would you make to improve your research next time and what recommendations would you make for future research on this topic?

Suggested Topic 1

Identify twenty chapter books for children with different publication dates aimed at a similar audience [use grade level or age]. Using a readability formula of your choice, measure the degree of difficulty in the text to see if that has changed over time. Are contemporary books easier to read than those published earlier? You could also do a similar study with a small number of text books if you had access to earlier and more recent editions.

Suggested Topic 2

Select a scholarly periodical. Find a recent issue and one five years old. Take the first twenty references from the first four articles in each issue. Classify citations or references to learn more about these variables: format, date of publication, number of authors, and place of publication. Has literature use changed over time? Implications for collection development?

Suggested Topic 3

As in Topic 2, but here check references in WorldCat to learn more about: subject dispersion (use the two-letter LC class) and the number of libraries holding the item. How important is subject dispersion in this discipline or profession? Are most of the items used commonly available? Has this changed over time?

Suggested Topic 4

Using fifteen recent genre fiction titles from the library or your own personal collection, evaluate cover content. Consider these variables: title length and appeal elements, font size for author and title, use of quoted passages or "blurbs," and the image used on the cover.

Suggested Topic 5

Use one of the standard reviewing sources. Select a recent issue that includes a reasonable number of biographies. Measure the sex, race/ethnic background, and occupation of the person being written about in 20 books each in two different issues [ one current and one five years ago] to identify change over time. Has there been a change in the type of person written about over time?

Suggested Topic 6

Using a best list of your choice, find five authors of books for adults and five authors of children's books. How many of these authors have a personal website [rather than a publisher one]? Using one of the specific website evaluation lists, evaluate the quality and utility of the websites. Are the websites of the two different types of authors similar or different?

Suggested Topic 7

Informally interview library staff members about their personal reading habits:

• What do they read?
• Where do they get the books?
• Do they keep a record of what they have read?
• Do they read less today than in the past?
• If yes, what other activities have taken that time?

Last major revision: December, 2006.

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