Course materials range from required textbooks, useful books, to Web resources on research methods. We will be using a lot of online articles (as listed on the schedule page). Lecture notes are posted through WebCT.

1. Required Textbooks:
• Powell, R. R., & Connaway, L. S. (2004). Basic Research Methods for Librarians. (4th ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN: 1591581125.
• Vaughan, L. (2001). Statistical Methods for the Information Professional: A Practical, Painless Appraoch to Understanding, Using, and Interpreting Statistics. Medford, NJ: Information Today.

  The required textbooks are available at CUA bookstore, textbook section.

   

2. Other Useful Books:

 

• Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2005). Practical Research: Planning and Design (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Peason Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0131108956.
• Pallant, J. (2001). SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows. New York: Open University Press. ISBN: 0-335-20890-8.
• Babbie, E. (2004). The Practice of Social Research (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomas Learning. ISBN: 0534620289.
• Trochim, W. M. K. (2001). The Research Methods Knowledge Base (2nd ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Atomic Dog Publishing. ISBN: 1931442487. Online version ISBN: 1931442479

1. Comprehensive Web Collections on Research Methods:
   
   • Research Methods Resources on the WWW, by Mary Sue Stephenson, Ph.D., The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia.
     
   • Writing Guide, Colorado state University
     
   • Research Methods Pages by Dr. Ruth Palmquist's at the University of Texas at Austin
     
   • Center for Social Science Research Methods, by William M. Trochim at Cornell University
     
   • The Researching Librarian by Beth Ashmore.

    

2. Glossary:
   
   • Research Methods Glossary, by The Centre for the Development of New Technologies in Learning (CDNTL) originated from the distance education arm of the University of Bath
     
   • LIS 504 - Research Methods and Statistics by Prof. Tim Craven , University of Western Ontario
     
   • Glossary of Measurement Terms, by Harcourt Assessment, Inc.
     
   • Hyperstat Glossary
     

    

3. Statistics Tools
   
   • Statistics Glossary, by V. J. Easton and J. H. McColl. A Glaswegian resource dealing with most statistical concepts and operations.
     
   • Interactive Statistical Calculation Pages, by John C. Pezzullo, Georgetown University

    

4. The Ethics of Research
   
   • On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research, a Web book of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, copyright 1994
     
   • The IRB Process, by CUA Office of Sponsored Program
     

    

5. Quantitative Tools:
   
   • Online Sample Size Calculation Program, by David A. Schoenfeld, Harvard University
     
   • Sampling Distribution Simulation, by Rice University Virtual Lab in Statistics.
     
   • Statistics Selector Program, by Bill Trochim, Cornell University.
     
   • Research Randomizer: Instant Random Sampling and Random Assignment, by Geoffrey C. Urbaniak and Scott Plous, Wesleyan University.
     

    

6. Qualitative Research Methods:
   
   • QualPage, by Judy Norris and many other contributors at University of Georgia
     
   • The Qualitative Reporter, by Dr. Ronald J. Chenail at Nova Southeastern University

    

7. Writing Research Articles:
   
   • Writing Empirical Journal Article, by Daryl J. Bem. Cornell University.
   • Examples for APA citing styles is at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_apa.html

For each class session, the lecture notes (produced in PowerPoint format) are made available for your review. All the lecture notes are stored in the WebCT course page and in folders identified by the session headings and content titles.

© Rong Tang 2005.
Created by Rong Tang January 2005