The course applies the principles of evaluation research to contemporary information management problems. it covers the fundamentals of identifying and investigating problems relevant to continuous quality improvement and communicating the results to decision makers.

Click the buttons below to go to course objectives, design, computing specifics, and academic code of conduct.

• Course Objectives

   

  • To study the domain, purpose of evaluation, and principles, design, and framework of evaluation research

  • To learn to apply evaluation research method to investigate the actual issues, solve the practical problems relevant to the field of library and information science

  • To acquire the knowledge and skills to a particular type of evaluation research pertinent to LIS field: Usability evaluation

  • To become familiar with of a real evaluation research process by learning to design a survey instrument and preparing a high quality evaluation research proposal

  • To establish an basic understanding of descriptive and inferential statistics, and the ability of using appropriate types of statistical methods for evaluation study data analysis

   

• Student Learning Outcomes [by number from GSLIS Web]: 1, 4, 5, 7, 9

  • Demonstrate the ability to apply standards relevant to specific information service activities.
  • Analyze, synthesize, and communicate information and knowledge in a variety of formats.
  • Recognize existing and potential problems in a workplace and devise strategies to resolve them.
  • Apply relevant research studies to tasks requiring problem solving and critical thinking.
  • Respond to diversity among individuals and communities through policies, collections, and services.

• Course Design and Computing Specifics

  The class session will be a combination of lecture, discussion, demo and practice of specific research design, instrumentation, and statistical notions.

We will be using much Internet resources and online tools on statistics. We will also learn to perform very basic statistics analysis using SPSS or excel.

• Honor Code and Academic Support

  Simmons GSLIS expects each of its students to uphold the Honor System (http://my.simmons.edu/gslis/resources/student-info/honor-code.shtml) and does not tolerate academic or scholastic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, cheating, or academic fraud. Penalties range from failure on the assignment, failure in the course, or dismissal from the program

  Definition of Plagiarism: Intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise; failure to attribute any of the following: quotations, paraphrases, or borrowed information from print sources or websites; buying completed papers from other to use as one's own work.

  Reasonable accommodations will be provided for students with documented physical, sensory, systemic, cognitive, learning, and psychiatric disabilities. If you have a disability and anticipate that you will need a reasonable accommodation in this class, it is important that you contact please contact the Disability Services Office located on the third floor of the Palace Road Building, Suite P304 or via phone at 617-521-2474, early in the semester. See also the Web page at http://my.simmons.edu/academics/asc/ for a list of contacts. Students with disabilities are also encouraged to contact their instructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.

  
  

© Rong Tang 2006.
Created by Rong Tang August 2006