Readings/Materials

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     Course materials range from required textbooks, useful books, journal articles, to Web resources on research methods and design. All the books are on reserve at the library, and most of the articles are in electronic format and available on the E-Learning site, or will be brought to the class prior to the week it is due to read (as listed on the schedule page). Lecture notes/presentations are posted through Simmons e-learning prior to the corresponding class session.
 
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Textbooks   Resources   Lectures

  1. REQUIRED READINGS:

    1. Textbooks:
      2.

      •  Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4129-6557-6.
      •  Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational Research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978-1-4129-5456-3.
      •  Trochim, W. M. K.,  & Donnelly, J. P.  (2007). The research methods knowledge base (3rd ed.). Mason, OH : Thomson Custom Publications. ISBN: 978-1-592-60291-9.
      •  Wildemuth, B. M. (2009). Applications of social research methods to questions in information and library science. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN: 978-1-59158-503-9

       

    2. Other Books/Chapters Used in the Reading:
      3.

      •  Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN: 0-7619-0144-2
      •  Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. ISBN: 978-1-4129-2792-5
      •  King, G., Keohane, R. O.,  & Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific inference in qualitative research. ISBN: 978-0-6910-3471-3
      •  Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2005). Practical research: Planning and design (8th ed.).  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Pretence Hall.  ISBN: 0-13-110895-6
      •  Pan, M. L. (2004). Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.  ISBN: 1-884585-56-6
      •  Powell, R. R.,  & Connaway, L. S. (2004). Basic research methods for librarians (4th ed.).  Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN: 1-59158-112-5 
      •  Sieber, J. E. (1992). Planning ethically responsible research: A guide for students and Internal Review Boards. Newbury Park:  Sage Publications. ISBN: 0-8039-3964-7
      •  Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 978-0-7619-3012-9

       

    3. Articles:

      •  Scientific Method of Inquiry:
        • King, G., Keohane, R. O.,  & Verba, S. (1994). Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific inference in qualitative research. Chapter 1 The Science in Social Science.
        • Michael, R. (2002). Inquiry & Scientific Method.

         

      •  Reflective Inquiry and Developing Problem Statement:
        • Hernon, P. (2001). Editorial: Components of the research process: Where do we need to focus attention? Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27, 81-89.
        • Hernon, P. & Schwartz, C. (2007). Editorial: What is a problem statement? Library & Information Science Research, 29, 307-309.
        • Hernon, P. & Schwartz, C. (2008). A research study's reflective inquiry. Library & Information Science Research, 30(3), 163-164.
        • Hernon, P., & Metoyer-Duran, C. (1993). Problem statements: An exploratory study of their function, significance, and form. Library & Information Science Research, 15(1), 71-92.
        • Metoyer-Duran, C., & Hernon, P. (1994). Problem statements in research proposals and published research: A case study of researchers' viewpoints. Library & Information Science Research, 16(2), 105-118.

         

      •  Literature Review and Research Authorship:
        •  Syrett, K.L., & Rudner, L.M. (1996). Authorship ethics. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 5(1). http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=1
        • Webster, J., & Watson, R. (2002). Analyzing the past to prepare for the future: Writing a literature review. MIS Quarterly, 26(2), xiii-xxiii.

         

      •  LIS Key Articles:

        •  LIS Conceptual Frameworks & Information behavior models:
          • Belkin, N. J. (1980). Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information retrieval. Canadian Journal of Information Science, 5, 133-145.
          • Ellis, D. (1989). A behavioral approach to information retrieval system design. Journal of Documentation, 45(3), 171-212.
          • Ingwersen, P. (1996). Cognitive perspective of information retrieval interaction: Elements of a cognitive IR theory. Journal of Documentation, 52(1), 3-50.
          • Kuhlthau, C. C. (1993). A principle of uncertainty for information seeking. Journal of documentation, 49(4), 339-355.
          • Marchionini, G. (1993). Information seeking in electronic environments. [selected pages]. London, UK: Cambridge University Press.
          • Saracevic, T. (2009). Information science. In: Marcia J. Bates and Mary Niles Maack (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. New York: Taylor & Francis. pp. 2570-2586.
          • Saracevic, T. (2007a). Relevance: A review of the literature and a framework for thinking on the notion in information science. Part II: Nature and manifestations of relevance. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(13), 1915-1933.
          • Saracevic, T. (2007b). Relevance: A review of the literature and a framework for thinking on the notion in information science. Part III: Behavior and effects of relevance. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(13), 2126-2144.
          • Savolainen, R. (1993). The sense-making theory: Reviewing the interests of a user-centered approach to information seeking and use. Information Processing & Management, 29(1), 13-28.
          • Taylor, R. S. (1968). Question-negotiation and information seeking in libraries. College & Research Libraries, 29(3), 178-194.
          • Wilson, T. D. (1999). Models of information behaviour research. Journal of Documentation, 55(3), 249-270.


        •   LIS representative research projects with interesting research design/approaches:
          • Chatman, E. (1999). A theory of life in the round. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(3), 207-217.
          • Chatman, E. (1996). The impoverished life-world of outsiders. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 47(3), 193-206.
          • Choo, C. W., Detlor, B., & Turnbull, D. (1999). Information seeking on the Web - an integrated model of browsing and searching. Proceedings of ASIST, 3-16. [http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/fis/respub/asis99/]
          • Ellis, D. (1993). Modeling the information-seeking patterns of academic researchers: a grounded theory approach. Library Quarterly, 63(4), 469-486. 
          • Ellis, D., Allen, D., & Wilson, T. (1999). Information science and information systems: Conjunct subjects disjunct disciplines. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(12), 1095-1107. 
          • Erdelez, S. (2004). Investigation of information encountering in the controlled research environment. Information Processing & Management, 40(6), 1013-1025. 
          • Kuhlthau, C. C. (1993). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user's perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 42(5), 361-371.
          • Vakkari, P., Pannanen, M., & Serola, S. (2003). Changes of search terms and tactics while writing a research proposal: a longitudinal case study. Information Processing & Management, 39(3), 445-464.

         

      •  Survey Research Example:
        • Tang, R., & Safer, M. (2008). Author-rated importance of cited References in biology and psychology publications. Journal of Documentation, 64(2).

         

      •  Experimental Research Example:
        • Tang, R., Vevea, J., & Shaw, W., jr. (1999). Towards the identification of the optimal number of relevance categories. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 50(3), 254-264.

         

      •  Qualitative Research Methods and Example:
        • Bradley, J. (1993). Methodological issues and practices in qualitative research. Library Quarterly, 63(4), 431-449.
        • Tang, R. & Zhang, S. (2010). Mental Models of Federated Searching: Qualitative Analysis and Coding of Drawings by Librarians and Students. Paper accepted to be presented at QQML (Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference 2010.

         

      •  Mixed Methods Procedures:
        • Wildemuth, B. (1993). Post-positivist research: Two examples of methodological pluralism. Library Quarterly, 63(4), 450-468.

         

      •  Writing and Reporting:

         

  2. Web Resources:

     

    1. Comprehensive Web Collections on Research Methods:

       

    2. Glossary:

       

    3. Research Process Flowcharts:

       

    4. Statistics Tools

       

    5. The Ethics of Research

       

    6. Quantitative Tools:

       

    7. 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

       

    8. Writing Research Articles:

       

  3. LECTURES, THE E-LEARNING COURSE SITE, AND SURVEY MONKEY ACCOUNT

     For each class session, the lecture notes or presentations (produced in PowerPoint format) will be made available for your review. All the lecture notes are stored in the Simmons E-learning course site and in folders identified by the session headings and content titles. Students will be able to use the course survey monkey account to implement the survey online, when it is appropriate for the research project. Information about the survey monkey account will be given in the class.

 

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Rong Tang 2010.
Site created by Rong Tang January 2010.