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Practitioner Research in the Library Literature How Are They Going About it?

Practitioner Research in the Library Literature How Are They Going About it?. Charles R. Hildreth, Ph.D. Director, Doctoral Program College of Information & Computer Science Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus ALISE Conference January 22. 2003.

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Practitioner Research in the Library Literature How Are They Going About it?

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  1. Practitioner Research in the Library Literature How Are They Going About it? Charles R. Hildreth, Ph.D. Director, Doctoral Program College of Information & Computer Science Long Island University/C.W. Post Campus ALISE Conference January 22. 2003 Hildreth: LIS Research

  2. Library Research Seminar IIUniversity of MarylandNovember 2-3, 2001“Partners & Connections: Research Applied to Practice” Hildreth: LIS Research

  3. Library Research Seminar IIStatement of Purpose “The Linking of LIS Practitioners and Researchers and the Elevation of the Status and Value of Research in the Library and Information Studies Community are Principle Goals of the Seminar Series.” Hildreth: LIS Research

  4. Library Research Seminar II Analysis of 50 Submitted Papers: Variables • Setting or Context • Topic or Issue Area • Research Approach or Aim • Data Collection Methods • Statistical Analysis Employed Hildreth: LIS Research

  5. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Setting • Academic Library (27) • General Librarianship (14) • Public Library (7) • Special (3) • School (2) Hildreth: LIS Research

  6. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Topic • Admin/Org/Personnel/Assessmt. (17) • Information Technology /Automation (17) • Information Seeking Behavior (12) • Library Use and User ( 7) • Library Resource Use/Analysis ( 4) • Scholarly Publishing/Communications ( 8) • LIS Research/Educ/Curric. Issues ( 7) • Library Professional/Career Issues ( 3) Hildreth: LIS Research

  7. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Topic-2 • Admin/Org/Personnel (21) • Use/User/Info. Behavior (19) • Info Tech/Digital Lib/Internet (17) • LIS Educ/Profession Issues (10) • Scholarly Pub/Communication ( 8) Hildreth: LIS Research

  8. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Strategy/Aim • Descriptive (19) • Exploratory/Inductive (21) • Explanatory/Confirmatory ( 1) • Evaluative ( 4) • Unknown/Not Applicable ( 7) Hildreth: LIS Research

  9. Research Approaches Defined(Russell Schutt: Investigating the Social World) • Descriptive Research • The “What, Where, How often, How much” questions are typical. Data collected is usually quantitative data. Measurement, sampling, and accurate data reporting are key concerns here. Valid and reliable and measurement instruments and techniques are critical. • Explanatory Research • Aims to identify causes and effects of phenomena that will explain behavior or selected phenomena with a high degree of probability, and support predictions about this behavior or phenomena. To establish “causal connections” between variables, experiments and/or surveys, that is, quantitative methods, are used. Hildreth: LIS Research

  10. Research Approaches Defined(Russell Schutt: Investigating the Social World) • Exploratory/Inductive Research • “What is going on here?” Search for meaning in actions and activities. Attempts to dig deeper than surface facts, to discover possible interpretations or explanations. Frequently involves qualitative methods and qualitative data. • Evaluation Research • Like, explanatory research, deals with effects and their causes. But, typically investigates the implementation of and actual effects of social, political, or educational programs and policies. Hildreth: LIS Research

  11. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Strategy/Aim • Descriptive (19) • Exploratory/Inductive (21) • Explanatory/Confirmatory ( 1) • Evaluative ( 4) • Unknown/Not Applicable ( 7) Hildreth: LIS Research

  12. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Data Collection • Quantitative (13) • Qualitative (20) • Both (11) • Not Clear ( 6) Hildreth: LIS Research

  13. Library Research Seminar IIResearch Report Analysis: Statistics • Descriptive (19) • Inferential ( 1) • Both ( 3) • Not Clear/Unknown (21) • Not Applicable ( 4) Hildreth: LIS Research

  14. Practitioner Research in the Library Literature1998-2002 Purposive, Stratified Selection of Journals: Three Categories I. Library Function or Service (10) II. Type of Library (Academic, Public, etc.) (9) III. General Librarianship (4) Hildreth: LIS Research

  15. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly Collection Management Technical Services Library Resources and Technical Services Serials Review Information Technology and Libraries Reference Services Review Reference Librarian Library Collections, Acquisitions and Technical Services Research Strategies College & Research Libraries Journal of Academic Librarianship Public Libraries Public Library Quarterly Public (& Access) Services Quarterly Special Libraries Bulletin of the Medical Library Association Science & Technology Libraries Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian Library Trends Library & Information Science Research Journal of Librarianship & Information Science Journal of Documentation Practitioner Research in the Library Literature1998-2002 Hildreth: LIS Research

  16. Practitioner Research in the Library Literature • Study Population: 23 LIS journals, 1998-2002 • Sample Frame: 200+ research project reports • Random Sample: 100 research articles Hildreth: LIS Research

  17. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureStudy Variables 1. Topic/Issue 2. Setting/Context 3. Location Site 4. Research Approach/Strategy 5. Data Collection Method 6. Data Analysis Approach 7. Sample Type 8. Statistical Analysis Employed Hildreth: LIS Research

  18. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteraturePublished Report Variables 1. Authorship (single/joint) 2. Organization/Readability 3. Critical Content (aim, lit. review, etc.) 4. Procedural depth and detail 5. Visual presentation of data findings 6. Humility factor (study limitations, future) Hildreth: LIS Research

  19. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesResearch Topic Frequency/Percent Admin/Org/Personnel 10 Operations/Functions 5 IT/Systems 1 Collections/Resources 12 Services 19 Users 7 Info. Seeking/Use 17 Indexes/Bibliographies 6 IR/Database Searching 4 Publishing/Communication 5 Citation Analysis 1 Cooperation/Networks/Consortia 0 Other (e.g., professional issues) 13 Hildreth: LIS Research

  20. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesResearch Topic (Collapsed) Frequency/Percent Admin/Technical/Ops 34 Use/User Behavior 47 Professional Issues 13 Publishing/Communication 5 Hildreth: LIS Research

  21. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study Variables Setting Frequency/Percent Academic 64 Public 7 Special 5 General 24 Location Site Single Site 33 Site Independent 67 Hildreth: LIS Research

  22. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesResearch Approach/Aim Frequency/Percent Descriptive 85 Exploratory 25 Explanatory 22 Evaluative 4 Multiple 35 Hildreth: LIS Research

  23. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesData Collection Methods Frequency/Percent Survey 62 Observation & Description 13 Semi-structured Interview 10 Experiment 5 Computer Logging 2 Bibliometric/Citation Analysis 14 Content Analysis 8 Case Study 5 Delphi 0 Other 12 Multiple Methods 31 Hildreth: LIS Research

  24. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesData Collection Approach Frequency/Percent Quantitative 71 Qualitative 10 Both 19 Hildreth: LIS Research

  25. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesType of Sample Frequency/Percent Randomized, probability 17 Non-probability 75 Unclear, not applicable 8 Hildreth: LIS Research

  26. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Study VariablesStatistical Analysis Frequency/Percent Descriptive 73 Inferential 7 Both 9 Not applicable 11 Association/Correlation 19 Hypothesis Tested 5 Hildreth: LIS Research

  27. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Report VariablesOrganization/Readability/Content Frequency/Percent Well-structured, identifiable sections 89 Research question/aim clearly stated 91 Literature review present 81 Hildreth: LIS Research

  28. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Report VariablesProcedural Depth and Detail Frequency/Percent Sample selection and makeup 88 Detailed data collection procedures 93 Data-supported analysis of findings 86 Hildreth: LIS Research

  29. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Report VariablesVisual Presentation of Data Frequency/Percent Tables 59 Charts (Bar, Pie, Histogram) 7 Both 18 None 7 Not applicable 9 Hildreth: LIS Research

  30. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Report Variables“Humility Factor” Frequency/Percent Reliability/validity addressed 18 Study limitations addressed 25 Future research to be done 38 Hildreth: LIS Research

  31. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Summary LIS Practitioner Researchers - are largely academic librarians - address a wide variety of research topics - write well-structured, readable research reports - but seldom use charts or graphs to present data findings - conduct less exploratory, qualitative research than academic researchers - conduct very little program or policy evaluation research Hildreth: LIS Research

  32. Practitioner Research in the Library LiteratureAnalysis Findings: Summary (cont) LIS Practitioner Researchers - rely heavily on survey, interview, and structured observation methods - but do not appreciate the importance of random, probability samples - and are generally unsophisticated (undertrained?) in the use of statistical data analysis - and, finally, seem to be unaware of the need to address study shortcomings, limitations, and reliability or validity issues. Hildreth: LIS Research

  33. Practitioner Research in the Library Literature Key LIS Research Literature Studies: Crawford, Gregory A. The Research Literature of Academic Librarianship: A Comparison of College & Research Libraries and Journal of Academic Librarianship. College & Research Libraries, May 1999, 224-230. Dimitroff, Alexander. Research for Special Libraries: A Quantitative Analysis of the Literature. Special Libraries, 86(4), 1995, 256-264. Feehan, Patricia E., W. Lee Gragg II, W. Michael Havener, and Diane D. Kester. Library and Information Science Research: An Analysis of the 1984 Journal Literature. Library & Information Science Research, 9. 1987. 173-185. Hernon, Peter. The Elusive Nature of Research in LIS. In C. McClure and P. Hernon, eds., Library and Information Science Research: Perspectives and Strategies for Improvement. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1991, 3-14. Jarvelin, Kalervo and Pertte Vakkari. Content Analysis of Research Articles in Library and Information Science. Library & Information Science Research, 12, 1990, 395-421. Julien, Heidi. A Content Analysis of Recent Information Needs and Uses Literature. Library & Information Science Research, 18(1), 1996, 53-65. McKechnie, Lynne E.F., Lynda Baker, Martha Greenwood, and Heidi Julien. Research Method Trends in Human Information Behaviour Literature. Paper presented at: ISIC-2002: Information Seeking in Context. The Fourth International Conference on Information Needs, Seeking and Use in Different Contexts. Lisbon, Portugal, September 11 - 13, 2002. Powell, Ronald R. Recent Trends in Research: A Methodological Essay. Library &Information Science Research, 21(1), 1999, 91-119. Van House, Nancy A. Assessing the Quantity, Quality, and Impact of LIS Research. Library & Information Science Research, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1991, 85-100. Wang, P. Methodologies and Methods for User Behavioral Research. In M. Williams, ed. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology, 34. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 1999, 53-99. Hildreth: LIS Research

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