Information professionals often find themselves in the position of needing to provide assistance to students or professionals who are completing a research project. In order to assist these patrons, it is important for information professionals to understand how to conduct a research project including project design, searching for and evaluating relevant literature, and understanding the difference between quantitative and qualitative research, and knowing which methods to apply, and when they are appropriate. It is important to remember when conducting research that the purpose of most research projects is to take the data and conclusions that are generated from a smaller group and apply them to more general audiences.

 

Quantitative

Quantitative data is data that can be expressed in numbers. In order to draw conclusions from quantitative data that can be applied more generally than the control group, certain standards must be met regarding the study. Two important standards are measurement validity, and inference reliability.

 

Validity breaks down into two major categories - internal and external validity. Internal validity includes measures taken during the study. Internal validity happens when the researcher sets the parameters of the study. The researcher must decide what elements are important to measure, and how the measurements are to be taken. All of these elements impact the internal validity of the study. External validity addresses the applicability of the study to the “real” world. In other words, how much of what is found in the study can be applied to conditions that aren’t controlled by a researcher. If the research cannot be applied outside of the study itself, then the external validity of the study is compromised.

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One of the most popular and widely used methods of gathering quantitative data in the library is by conducting surveys. Surveys are a great way to collect data from many users regarding a variety of topics. The data collected from the surveys can be used to create statistics, or other numerical data that can then be analyzed. Surveys might be used to gather data about the habits and preferences of library users, which can help guide decision making regarding programs, events, and collection materials. Because libraries are centered on providing service to patrons, and fulfilling the patron’s needs, understanding the ways that we are succeeding and areas that need improvement can go a long way in ensuring that libraries provide the best possible resources to their respective communities.

 

Qualitative

Qualitative data is non numeric data that conveys meaning. Qualitative data can be words, text, images, sounds, recordings, objects, or artifacts. Some of the most common methods for collecting qualitative data include (Hughes, 2008):

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• Observation

• Usability testing

• Interviews

• Focus Groups

• Document Analysis

 

Like with quantitative data, there are also standards of validity that apply to qualitative data. Those standards are credibility, transferability, and dependability. In order to measure credibility, the researcher must ensure that the information gathered represents the problem or population being studied accurately. When involving people as subjects, credibility is also a concern within their participation. Are the subjects being truthful? Is there any outside pressure causing them to answer or behave in way different from how they might normally? Any of these concerns could have an impact on the credibility of the study. Transferability addresses whether or not the information gathered has broader applicability outside of the study. And lastly, dependability refers to whether or not the findings of the research can be replicated by other researchers.

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Popular methods for qualitative research are observation, usability testing, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis. All of these methods can be useful for conducting library research. One of the most popular methods of gathering qualitative data for libraries are interviews. Interviews are very easy and cost effective to conduct, and therefore can be used in a wide variety of research projects. Interviewing can be a great method if the researcher needs to ask follow up questions in order to elicit details about a particular service or event. Interviews allow the subject to guide the conversation, and discuss what he or she feels is important, with less structure than most quantitative methods. This amount of detail and lack of structure is part of what makes qualitative methods valuable to researchers.

 

Research Project Design

One of the most important elements of any research project is knowing how the research is going to be conducted, and what questions are going to be answered by the research. To this end, it is good to begin the research process with a purpose statement, and one or more research questions in mind. These elements may change as new information is gathered and learned, but having clear goals in mind can assist when seeking out resources, participants, or developing methods for the research project.

 

After the research question (or questions) have been refined, then the researcher can begin to consider what methods would best answer the question. Sometimes this might include field research, surveys, participant observations, or interviews. Other times this might require reviews of the literature, and evaluations of studies that already exist. No matter which methods are used, the researcher must ensure that the methods are appropriate to answer the research questions that the study is designed to address.

 

Evidence

The first piece of evidence that submit to demonstrate my mastery of competency L is a research proposal that I completed for INFO 285. For this course, I took the section that focused on research in academic libraries. I focused my research on the impact that distance learning librarians have on library service usage for online or distance education students. This research study is designed to measure what type of impact having a distance education librarian on staff has on library use for distance students. Providing services to distance education students is a challenge that many colleges and universities face, and will continue to struggle with as the prevalence of online and distance education programs increases. This piece of evidence demonstrates my mastery of competency L by demonstrating my ability to design a research experiment including the formulation of a research question, and the development of methods appropriate to answering that question.

 

The second piece of evidence that I submit to demonstrate my mastery of this competency is a survey questionnaire that I created as a part of a group effort in INFO 285. The point of this exercise was to practice data collection methods that are appropriate to academic research projects. My group and I focused on the professional development activities of academic librarians. Together, we created a cover letter, developed questions for the survey, and selected the ways in which the questions could be answered (i.e. multiple choice, likert scale, text box, etc.). For this assignment, I wrote the cover letter, and developed three of the eight questions, while providing input as to the question types for the other questions included in the survey. This piece of evidence demonstrates my mastery by showcasing my ability to develop methods that are appropriate to the information being collected, and that provide data that can be used to answer a research question.

 

The third piece of evidence that I am submitting to demonstrate my mastery of this competency is a research project handout that I created to provide to students that I was grouped with as an overview of a proposed research plan. Like my previous research proposal, this too focuses on services provided to distance education students. This study differs because it includes a small focus group of first time distance education students, and observes them as they use library resources to conduct research or complete assignments. Participants in this study are students at Passaic County Community College, who are enrolled in the mandatory one credit college experience course. This project demonstrates my mastery of competency L by showcasing my ability to formulate a purpose and research questions, but also to build keywords and phrases that could be used to find literature and previous studies that are relevant to my research project.

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Conclusion

Conducting research can be an onerous and confusing endeavor. Many information professionals will find themselves in a position where they either need to conduct some type of research themselves, or assist a student or patron on his or her research project. Because of this, it is important that information professionals understand how to design and conduct research projects to ensure that they are able to provide the best service possible to their patrons. Additionally, some information professionals may find themselves in a position where they need to conduct research for their own purposes. When this happens, it is important to know what type of information is needed, and the best methods for gathering that data.