Research

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research).

Research is an active, diligent and systematic process of inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise facts, events, behaviours, or theories, or to make practical applications with the help of such facts, laws or theories. The term "research" is also used to describe the collection of information about a particular subject.

The word "research" derives from the Middle French (see French language) and the literal meaning is "to investigate thoroughly".

This course will approach the term research from a scholarly perspective, giving students the opportunity to become discriminating consumers of research found in common information and library science periodicals and journals. This course will give students the necessary tools to determine the quality and accuracy of research and to the ability to critique work in a knowledgeable manner.

How this course will be taught

This is an online course taught virtually at a distance using the Web. The course is conceived of as discussions on 20 (or so) topics. A lecture course in the University of Arizona amounts to 37 1/2 hours of instruction spread through a semester. Our 'discussions' will be the virtual counterpart of 30 (or so) one and a quarter hour lectures, delivered at a rate of approximately two/week. There will be notes, readings, discussion threads, and (of course) assignments.

The course has a start date and an end date, and the class as a whole will move through the course together. The primary means of introducing the scholarly material will be Notes found in the Content section. These are going to be posted one at a time steadily through the session, keeping the whole class moving forward through the material. There are 20 plus sets of Notes, and these normally will be delivered at a rate of 2 a week. I usually post these notes on Sunday afternoon/evening (in the event I am traveling, I reserve the right to post them no later than Monday). There will be assignments, with due dates, and formal discussions, and these will serve to check progress. There also will be readings or references to be followed up on the Web. Please be aware that the discussions are the only opportunity you will have to interact with your classmates. This is the foundation for the participation gradealthough too much participation can also be a bad thing. Use your time appropriately, but if you have a question, concern, or comment, its likely that someone else has the same and may be too shy to share.

Almost all interactions will be asynchronous. That is, you can log on whenever they wish, and read material and post replies on timetables that suits their individual needs. A student will typically need to log on about 5 times a week. (An analog here is email-- most people check their email at least five times a week.) Please endeavor to keep current with the discussion threads. Comments occasionally appear in old threads are arent read as actively as those in current topics.

D2L is used as the instructional and course management environment. Students are expected to log on reasonably regularly, to read and study the Notes and references, to participate in the online discussions, to interact by email, discussion threads, etc with their peers, to complete assignments. It is difficult to anticipate how much time will be spent working on this course. The typical course requires 6-10 hours of work/week although this may vary.

This course is based on a foundation of instruction provided by Dr. Martin Fricke. I have taught it several times in the past and it is now beginning to start to have a look and feel that is somewhat distinctive. The most notable difference is the assignment(s) that seem to take on a life of their own for each studentindependently. I suggest using a bit of strategy when completing the assignments.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

By the completion of this course, you will

know what empirical research is, and what are the general techniques used to carry out such research in social science and specifically Library and Information Sciences
know what are the strengths and weaknesses of those techniques
be able to say whether research you encounter is good; to say:
what was really being examined
what was the evidence, or support, or principled argument
what were the conclusions
whether the relationship between the evidence and the conclusions was adequate
whether we should we trust the results or the conclusions
be able to consider the applicability of published or known research to your own libraries or information centers
have experienced, read, and discussed many examples of both good and poor research in Library and Information Science

...basically, you will learn to be an educated consumer of research.

REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS

Students need online access, either by way of their own computers and Internet connection or by public access means (such as those provided in Public Libraries or in on campus labs).

There are three required text(s) for the course.

Patten Mildred L.[2005], Understanding Research Methods; An Overview of the Essentials, Pyrczak Publishing, Available from the publisher, http://www.pyrczak.com/ Please note that while older editions are available, I encourage you to purchase the current edition. There are significant differences in the editions.

Donnelly, Robert, A, Jr. [2004], The Complete Idiots Guide to Statistics, Alpha Books, ISBN 1-59257-199-9

Salsburg, David. [2001], The Lady Tasting Tea-How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century, ISBN 0-8050-7134-2.

The inclusion of the Donnelly text is not meant as an insult, but rather as an opportunity to remove some anxieties about the nature of the course. The information provided in the text is both useful and accurate, but also presents the material in an understandable and comfortable manner. Please don t allow the term statistics to skew your perspective of the course this course was developed knowing that it has been quite a few years since any of us have taken mathematics.

All other course-related materials will be provided online.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The coursework requirements are

study evaluations. study evaluations. A short review/critique of 6 research studies will be required for this class. These studies must come from peer-reviewed journals of research in the field of Library and Information Science or a related field (for those of you who are anticipating work in a specific sub-field and are interested in
critiquing material in your discipline, please contact me). A copy of these studies must be included (or in the case of online journals, a hyperlink provided) with the evaluation. The purpose of these assignments is to develop your ability to be a consumer of research. As a result, in order to find these eight papers, it is anticipated that you will cull through at least 70-80 research papers throughout the span of this course. This may seem like an overwhelming task, but given the typical bibliography in a typical literature review, this is quite reasonable. Therefore the workload for the papers is identified as:

understand the topic well enough to identify a specific component of research
provide an opportunity for you to browse a large and diverse selection of research to
isolate studies which meet specific criteria
demonstrate scholarly ability by writing brief (2-3 page) papers examining the
research

Paper. There will be a short paper due at the end of the term, which will serve to integrate what you have learned throughout the course. In this way, it is cumulative. On the other hand, it will allow you to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the course materials and apply this information in an appropriate scenario. More on this later...

Participation (group discussion)

Quiz. There will be a single quiz/assignment required during the term. It will be a simple application of Statistics in Excel. Following instructions will ensure full credit for this assignmentit is not meant to be a Statistics testbut more of a worksheet that you fill out.

The distribution of the marks is as follows

The expectation is that individuals will utilize the discussions as an opportunity to ensure that their understanding of an issue is accurate, but also to reinforce the understanding of others through constructive discussions. This should not be utilized as a podium for endless chatter, but inclusive and active discourse is expected.

paper 40%
study evaluations 40%
participation in discussion(s) 10%*
quiz/assignment 10%

COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity. 'The guiding principle of academic integrity is that a student's submitted work must be the student's own.' If you have any questions regarding what is acceptable practice under this Code, please ask an instructor.

Accommodating Disabilities

Any person in this course with disabilities should contact the Instructor who will discuss with them what needs to be done to open the way to a full and successful educational experience.

Assignment Policies

Submission: The papers are to be submitted usually by the D2L assignment drop box. Documents will be accepted in any format EXCEPT Word Perfect, Microsoft Works or XML (in the event these are the only software applications that you have, please save the files as TXT <or> RTF).

Format, style and content: Content is most important in this course. Style should be plain and transparent. Use whatever format you are most familiar with, but BE CONSISTENT!

Late papers: There will be due dates and students are expected to meet them. With an online course like this, difficulties can arise (such as computers or D2L being temporarily out of service) and appropriate decisions will be made as needed. It is my expectation that unique problems will happen infrequently. A great number of us have lives outside of the academy. Periodically, things happen. Please contact me before crisis occurs!

Incompletes

The 1997-8 University of Arizona General Academic Manual, p.23 reads

The grade of I may be awarded only at the end of a semester, when all but a minor portion of the course work has been satisfactorily completed. The grade of I is not to be awarded when the student is expected to repeat the course; in such a case the grade of E must be assigned. Students should make arrangements with the instructor to receive an incompete grade before the end of the semester ...

If the incomplete is not removed by the instructor within one year the I grade will revert to a failing grade.

It has been my experience that most individuals who receive an incomplete never complete the requisite work and unfortunately fail the course. Please make every effort to avoid requesting an incomplete. This is more for your sake than mine.

GRADING

A traditional grading scheme will be used.

90-100	A
80-89.999	B
70-79.999	C
60-69.999*	D
Below 60*	E

*Since this is a graduate-level course, the expectation is that no one should earn grades at this level, although it is quite possible.

General grading criteria: For ordinary papers, and unless specified otherwise, you should write about the equivalent of four pages of ordinary text. Grammar, style, or spelling are not central-- provided the paper is understandable and the faults are not so severe as to be a distraction. Then, important grading criteria include:-

clear articulation of your views and arguments
soundness of your argument; ability to respond appropriately to the assignment
appropriate appeal to evidence
clear and concise exposition of the points you are making; don't beat a dead horse to fill up the space requirement, especially since it is minimal
consideration of intellectual context and relevant literature; citing the readings is useful here

PLEASE NOTE: I grade somewhat liberally throughout the term. I TRUNCATE at the end of the term when assigning grades. There is NO exception to this policy under any circumstances.

CONTACTING ME

Please utilize the email system provided by D2L to contact me. Traditional email (esp. from AOL, MSN and HOTMAIL accounts) tends to get misfiled by my mail filters and it can take considerable time for me to discover and reply to these emails.

Given the nature of the subject matter, I am available by telephone during normal working hours (approx 8am-5pm, ARIZONA time) M-F. If I don t answer, feel free to leave a voicemail and I will return your call as soon as I can.

If you are in Tucson, you may also schedule a meeting. Please use the internal D2L email system to contact me for a time.

I urge you to avail yourselves of either of these opportunities (or both). This can be an overwhelming topic and a few minutes in person, or on the telephone, usually solves hours of confusion!