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Last revised May 26, 2006

Course Syllabus for IRLS506 Research Methods I


Summer 2006 I nstructor: Brian Atkinson



COURSE NAME, NUMBER, AND PREREQUISITES

Research Methods

IRLS 506-001

There are no prerequisites for this course.

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

Research methodology, research design, and elementary statistics.

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 virttually 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 two a 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. 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 (usually put up on a Tuesday and a Friday). 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.

Almost all interactions will be asynchronous. That is, students 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.)

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 which is somewhat distinctive. The most noteable difference are the assignment(s) which seem to take on a life of their own for each student independently. I suggest using a bit of strategy when completing the assignments.

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COURSE OBJECTIVES

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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 Please feel free to indicate how useful this book is throughout the term. It's a new addition that I intend on remodeling the course after... if everyone likes the readings.

Huff, Darrell, [1993], How To Lie With Statistics, Norton, ISBN 0-393-31072-8 (this book is optional, but very well worth the $11)

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.

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COURSE REQUIREMENTS

The coursework requirements are

study evaluations. study evaluations. A short review/critique of 8 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:

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 nformation in an appropriate scenario. More on this later...

participation (group discussion)

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.

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COURSE POLICIES

Academic Code of Integrity

Students are expected to abide by The University of Arizona Code of Academic Integrity, see . '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

The University has a Disability Resource Center . If you anticipate the need for reasonable accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, you must register with the Disability Resource Center and request that the DRC send me, the Instructor, official notification of your accommodation needs as soon as possible. Please plan to meet with me by appointment or during office hours to discuss accommodations and how my course requirements and activities may impact your ability to fully participate.

Assignment Policies

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.

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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:-

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.

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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 program 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.

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