? Research Methods For Library Science Subject: RESEARCH METHODS FOR LIBRARY SCIENCE Credits: 4 SYLLABUS Meaning of Research; Objectives of Research; Types of Research; Research Approaches; Significance of Research; Research and Scientific Method; Importance of knowing how Research is done; Research Process; Problems Encountered by Researchers in India; Meaning of Research Design; Need for Research Design; Important Concept Relating to Research Design; Different Research Designs; Basic Principles of Experimental Designs; Developing a Research Plan. Need for Sampling; Important Sampling Distributions; Sampling Theory; Interpretation; Why Interpretation; Techniques of Interpretations; Precaution in Interpretation; Report Writing; Interviewing Techniques; Understanding Surveys; Questionnaire Design; Receiving Completed Questionnaires; Data Gathering and Analysis Techniques; Collection of Data; Evaluate and Analyze the Data. Content Analysis: Analysis and Size; Questioning the Content; Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis; Anatomy of an on-line Focus Group; Affinity Groups; Internet Audience Research Analyzing Online Discussions: Ethics; Data and Interpretation; Reporting the Findings. Suggested Readings: 1. Media and Communication Research Methods: an Introduction to Qualitative and Qualitative Methods; Arthur A; Sage Publications. 2. Mass Media Research: An Introduction ; Roger D. Wimmer; Joseph R. Dominick; CengageBrain.com 3. Media Research Techniques; Arthur Asa Berger; Sage Publications. CONTENT Lesson No. Topic Page No. Lesson 1 Introduction - what is research 1 Lesson 2 Research Design 4 Lesson 3 Research Planning 7 Lesson 4 Audience Research etc. - I 12 Lesson 5 Audience Research etc. - II 16 Lesson 6 Sampling 21 Lesson 7 Sampling - Multi-stage Sampling 25 Lesson 8 Questionnaires 29 Lesson 9 Question Formats 34 Lesson 10 Fieldwork 39 Lesson 11 Interview - Prepare Interviewer Instructions 46 Lesson 12 Feildwork 49 Lesson 13 Interviewing 53 Lesson 14 Survey 56 Lesson 15 Survey – Telephonic Survey 59 Lesson 16 Surveys- Mail Survey 63 Lesson 17 Survey – Survey Presentation 67 Lesson 18 Checking and Editing Surveys 71 Lesson 19 Case Study 74 Lesson 20 Content Analysis 79 Lesson 21 Content Analysis - Analysis and Size 82 Lesson 22 Content Analysis- Questioning the Content 86 Lesson 23 “Qualitative” and “Quantitative” 90 Lesson 24 Anatomy of an on-line focus group 96 Lesson 25 Group Discussions 99 Lesson 26 Affinity Groups 104 Lesson 27 Internet Audience Research 110 Lesson 28 Analyzing Online Discussions: Ethics, Data and Interpretation 114 Lesson 29 Reporting the findings 118 Lesson 30 Reporting the Findings - The form of TV Programs 121 CONTENT Lesson No. Topic Page No. Lesson 31 Copyright Act- 1957 127 Lesson 32 Using research well 138 Lesson 33 Are All Polls Valid? 142 LESSON 1: INTRODUCTION - WHAT IS RESEARCH Topics Covered - the white-coated scientist bent over a bubbling test tube. This Meaning, Nature, Objectives, Significance, Importance, fits well the Chambers definition. In contrast, the ‘collate old Overview facts’ definition suggests heads bent over old manuscripts in the British Library Reading Room. Objectives Upon completion of this Lesson, you should be able to: These are just two types of research, we’ll consider a few more ideas, but you may have thought of something different again. • Understand what is research The first of this list , the scientist, is perhaps the archetypal • Identify the Objectives and Functions of Research image of experimental research. Of course, the white coated • Identify the Significance and importance of research technician is less well respected today than in the late 60’s when We will first ask what research is and whether, you ought to be Thunderbirds was first screened. A more acceptable modern doing it anyway. After this, and forming the bulk of the image might be the botanist in the Amazonian rain forest, document, we shall look at the process of research itself. observing and discovering new creatures before they fall under the axe and are consumed by fire. Behavioural and experimental psychologists would also fall under this general heading. The social scientist’s methods are different from the laboratory (although quite similar to the botanist). They include inter- views, observation and the collection of data. All of which will be needed at very least during your requirements elicitation from your client. Notice how the world of the social scientist is far less controlled than that of the laboratory or even the botanist. Pause for a moment, think of the word ‘research’ - what images You can put a beetle in a ‘bug box’ and examine it, but social come into your mind? Don’t try to define it, just think about situations collapse when dissected too closely. The ecologist has what it means to you. Write down a few ideas below. similar problems. Historical research corresponds to the British Library image, reading original sources and other peoples books and papers. Of course it does not stop there. The aim of the historian is to understand the historical processes as well as to record it. One of the key things a historian has to recognise is that all the sources are biased - written from a particular perspective by a particular person for some particular purpose. You will be faced with similar issues, albeit from modern sources. Journalists operate in a somewhat similar fashion. They do not expect to generate new knowledge (although they may occasion- ally generate fiction). Instead, they cull from exiting sources: people, books, other newspaper articles etc., in order to write Look at the two dictionary definitions above. Which one, if about their chosen subject. Note the range of sources they must either, is closest to your images of research? The first is more draw on. Also note that they will not attempt to thoroughly lofty - looking for totally new knowledge. The Oxford defini- understand the subject they are writing about, nor do they tion also includes the collation of existing knowledge. The attempt total coverage of the area. They have a goal, to write an image, which immediately springs to my mind when I think of article, and they find out just enough to do that job. The research although not what I do) is of Brains on Thunderbirds academic must take a deeper and wider perspective than this, 1 but do not underestimate the skill of the journalists. When cant academic work before hand and analysis of your results some event happens they have to find out enough within a few after. One would hope that this will also contribute to making hours to be able to write cogently about it. the project interesting. Finally we have industrial Research and Development. What is To be integrative and intellectually challenging the project must the research element in it? Well, some firms do have ‘blue skies’ clearly involve research in the sense of ‘collating old facts’. That research laboratories whose job is to find exciting new things, is, aspects of the British Library image combined with the rather like (but better resourced) than a University research focused attitude of industrial R & D. atmosphere. However, most do not have sufficient spare But, the crunch, should the project be innovative - breaking new resources to use for this sort of enterprise. Instead, the job of ground, extending the sum of human knowledge, generating the commercial researcher is to draw on existing knowledge and new and novel solutions? bring it to bear on a particular problem. This may involve Well, it would obviously be nice to develop some new algo- creating something new, but usually by some adaptation of an rithm or discover some new fact about IT, and the best projects existing solution. Like the journalist, the industrial researcher is will involve some level of innovation, but this is an under- very goal directed, but has to do more. The journalist merely graduate and not a research degree, so it is not necessary. On the has to gather enough information to write the article, the other hand, it would be hard to apply even standard techniques industrial researcher must understand the information in order to a new problem without there being something novel about to apply it to a new situation, that is, the product under it. Every situation is slightly different and you will have to use a development. level of ingenuity (another ‘I’ word) in dealing with it. Clearly, the R & D situation is closest to your project as you too So, given you should be doing some research, how do you go have a client and a product to produce. However, the situation about it? You all know the old saying: “you should learn from is not identical. Your aim is not only to produce a product, but your mistakes”. Indeed, this will be an important part of your also to obtain a degree. Although your time may hardly seem final report. You will have to reflect upon what did and did not leisurely, you do in fact have more ‘leisure’ to reflect upon the work. You will be expected to diagnose your problems and work you are doing, taking a more academic angle. In particular, learn from them. However, you do not have enough time to this might mean being somewhat broader in your searches for make too many mistakes, so you should avoid as many as information and considering more alternatives to a problem, possible. even after you have found a solution, which works. So, given these definitions of research and examples of researchers, should you be doing research in your project, or should that be left to the PhD students and academics. And, if you should be doing research, which of the above types should it be. How do you avoid making your own mistakes? Well although it is good to learn from your own mistakes, it is shrewd to learn from other peoples mistakes. Find out what other people have done right and done wrong before making the same mistakes or even working hard to discover the same good things. To do this you must study other people’s work before embark- Let’s think about your project in terms of some ‘I’ words. First ing on your own - that is, more research. But it is not all of the it should be integrative, bringing together knowledge from British Library kind. different areas. In most of your courses you consider some particular aspect of computing, business or mathematics. In your project you must use knowledge from a variety of areas and sources. Some things you may already know from a course you have done. Other things might need further investigation. The project is an independent piece of work which is interesting to you. As it is YOU doing the work, you are only expected to produce what is reasonable for a final year undergraduate. However, as it as an academic project, part of an honours degree, it must also be intellectually challenging. Again, not the minimal solution to a problem, but one that involves signifi- 2 You obviously need to read what other people have written: activities, none of these activities can be understood without books, academic papers, newspaper articles etc. In addition you placing them in the wider context of his entire life. need to consider what they say by interviews, discussions etc. In experimental design, the researcher can often exert a great deal Finally, examine what they make - in your context primarily of control over extraneous variables and thus ensure that the software, but also possibly the organisational structures, paper stimuli in the experimental conditions are similar. In a labora- based systems etc. tory experiment, one has the opportunity to vary the treatment Assumptions of scientific method David Easton has laid down in a systematic manner, thus allowing for isolation and precise certain assumptions and objectives of scientific method. They specification of the important difference. are regularities, verification, techniques, quantification, values Assignments systematisation, pure science, and integration. 1. The task of defining the research problem often follows a 1. Regularities sequential pattern. Explain? Scientific method believes that the world is regular and phe- 2. What do you mean by research? Explain its significance in nomena occur in patterns. Further there are discernible modern times? uniformities in political and social behaviour which can8be expressed as generalisation which are capable of explaining and predicting political and social phenomena. 2. Verification Scientific method presupposes that knowledge should consist of propositions that have been subjected to empirical tests, and that all evidence must be based on observation. 3. Techniques Scientific method attaches a great deal of importance to the adoption of correct techniques for acquiring and interpreting data. In order to make the research self conscious and critical about the methodology, there is a need for the use of sophisti- cated tools-like multivariate analysis, sample survey and mathematical models, simulation and so on. 4. Quantification Science necessarily involves mathematical formulas and measure- ments. Theories are not acceptable if they are not expressed in mathematical language. All observations must ‘be quantified because quantification has advantages in terms of precision and manageability. 5. Values Values and facts are. two separate things. Science, it is claimed, is value free. It is not concerned with what is “good”, “right”, “proper” “desirable” etc. “Good” and “bad” is the concern of philosophers. Scientific enquiry to be objective, therefore, must be value free. 6. Systematisation Scientific study demands that research should be systematic. it means that it must be theory-oriented and theory directed. The theory and research should form interrelated parts of a coherent and orderly body of knowledge. 7. Pure Science Scientific minded social scientists insist on pure science ap- proach. They agree that theoretical understanding may lead to an application of this knowledge to problems of life. Both the theory and its application are parts of.scientific enterprise. 8. Integration Finally, there is the question of integration of each social science with other social sciences. The behaviouralists agree that man is a social animal and while one may try to draw boundary lines between the social, political, economic, cultural and other 3 LESSON 2: RESEARCH DESIGN Topics Covered conventional approach is to put the research question in writing Research Design, importance, principles, Approaches in the introduction of a report starting with the phrase “ The purpose of this study is . . . .” This approach forces the Objectives researcher to: Upon completion of this Lesson, you should be able to: a. identify the research objective (allows others to benchmark • What is research design how well the study design answers the primary goal of the • Identify the importance of research design research) • Know the principles of RD b. identify key abstract concepts involved in the research • Different Research approaches Abstract concepts: The starting point for measurement. The objective of science is to explain reality in such a fashion so Abstract concepts are best understood as general ideas in that others may develop their own conclusions based on the linguistic form that help us describe reality. They range from the evidence presented. The goal of this handbook is to help you simple (hot, long, heavy, fast) to the more difficult (responsive, learn how to conduct a systematic approach to understanding effective, fair). Abstract concepts should be evident in the the world around us that employs specific rules of inquiry; what research question and/or purpose statement. An example of a is known as the scientific model. research question is given below along with how it might be The scientific model helps us create research that is quantifiable reflected in a purpose statement. (measured in some fashion), verifiable (others can substantiate Research Question: Is the quality of public sector and private our findings), replicable (others can repeat the study), and sector employees different? defensible (provides results that are credible to others—this Purpose statement: The purpose of this study is to determine does not mean others have to agree with the results). For many if the quality of public and private sector employees is different. the scientific model may seem too complex to follow, but it is often used in everyday life and should be evident in any research 2. Develop Theory report, paper, or published manuscript. The corollaries of A theory is one or more propositions that suggest why an common sense and proper paper format with the scientific event occurs. It is our view or explanation for how the world model are given below. works. These propositions provide a framework for further analysis that are developed as a non-normative explanation for Corollaries among the Scientific Model, Common Sense, and “What is” not “What should be.” A theory should have logical Paper Format integrity and includes assumptions that are based on para- digms. These paradigms are the larger frame of contemporary Paper understanding shared by the profession and/or scientific Scientific Model Common Sense Format community and are part of the core set of assumptions from Research Question Why Intro which we may be basing our inquiry. Develop a theory Your answer Intro 3. Identify Variables Identify variables How Method Variables are measurable abstract concepts that help us describe Identify Expectations Method relationships. This measuring of abstract concepts is referred to hypotheses as operationalization. In the previous research question “Is the Test the Collect/analyze data Results quality of public sector and private sector employees different?” hypotheses the key abstract concepts are employee quality and employment Evaluate the results What it means Conclusion sector. To measure “quality” we need to identify and develop a Critical review What it doesn’t Conclusion measurable representation of employee quality. Possible quality mean variables could be performance on a standardized intelligence test, attendance, performance evaluations, etc. The variable for Overview of First Four Elements of the employment sector seems to be fairly self-evident, but a good Scientific Model researcher must be very clear on how they define and measure The following discussion provides a very brief introduction to the concepts of public and private sector employment. the first four elements of the scientific model. Variables represent empirical indicators of an abstract concept. However, we must always assume there will be incomplete 1. Research Question congruence between our measure and the abstract concept. Put The research question should be a clear statement about what simply, our measurement has an error component. It is unlikely you intend to investigate. It should be specified before research is conducted and openly stated in reporting the results. One 4. to measure all aspects of an abstract concept and can best be understood by the following: Variable Level Abstract concept = indicator + error Country Nominal Because there is always error in our measurement, multiple Letter Grade Ordinal measures/indicators of one abstract concept are felt to be better Age Ratio (valid/reliable) than one. As shown below, one would expect that as more valid indicators of an abstract concept are used the Temperature Interval effect of the error term would decline: Abstract concept = indicator1 + indicator2 + indicator3 + error Reliability and Validity Levels of Data The accuracy of our measurements are affected by reliability and There are four levels of variables. These levels are listed below in validity.R eliability is the extent to which the repeated use of a order of their precision. It is essential to be able to identify the measure obtains the same values when no change has occurred levels of data used in a research design. They are directly (can be evaluated empirically). Validity is the extent to which associated with determining which statistical methods are most the operationalized variable accurately represents the abstract appropriate for testing research hypotheses. concept it intends to measure (cannot be confirmed empirically- Nominal: Classifies objects by type or characteristic (sex, race, it will always be in question). Reliability negatively impacts all models of vehicles, political jurisdictions) studies but is very much a part of any methodology/ Properties operationalization of concepts. As an example, reliability can depend on who performs the measurement (i.e., subjective 1. categories are mutually exclusive (an object or characteristic measures) and when, where, and how data are collected (from can only be contained in one category of a variable) whom, written, verbal, time of day, season, current public 2. no logical order events). Ordinal: classifies objects by type or kind but also has some There are several different conceptualizations of validity. logical order (military rank, letter grades) Predictive validity refers to the ability of an indicator to Properties correctly predict (or correlate with) an outcome (e.g., GRE and 1. categories are mutually exclusive performance in graduate school). Content validity is the extent to which the indicator reflects the full domain of interest (e.g., 2. logical order exists past grades only reflect one aspect of student quality). Construct 3. scaled according to amount of a particular characteristic they validity (correlational validity) is the degree to which one possess measure correlates with other measures of the same abstract Interval: classified by type, logical order, but also requires that concept (e.g., days late or absent from work may correlate with differences between levels of a category are equal (temperature in performance ratings). Face validity evaluates whether the degrees Celsius, distance in kilometers, age in years) indicator appears to measure the abstract concept (e.g., a Properties: person’s religious preference is unlikely to be a valid indicator of employee quality). 1. categories are mutually exclusive 2. logical order exists 4. Identify Measurable Hypotheses A hypothesis is a formal statement that presents the expected 3. scaled according to amount of a particular characteristic they relationship between an independent and dependent variable. A possess dependent variable is a variable that contains variations for 4. differences between each level are equal which we seek an explanation. An independent variable is a 5. no zero starting point variable that is thought to affect (cause) variations in the Ratio: same as interval but has a true zero starting point dependent variable. This causation is implied when we have (income, education, exam score). Identical to an interval-level statistically significant associations between an independent and scale except ratio level data begin with the option of total dependent variable but it can never be empirically proven: Proof absence of the characteristic. For most purposes, we assume is always an exercise in rational inference. interval/ratio are the same. Association The following table provides examples of variable types: Statistical techniques are used to explore connections between independent and dependent variables. This connection between or among variables is often referred to as association. Associa- tion is also known as covariation and can be defined as measurable changes in one variable that occur concurrently with changes in another variable. A positive association is repre- sented by change in the same direction (income rises with education level). Negative association is represented by concurrent change in opposite directions (hours spent exercising 5 and % body fat). Spurious associations are associations 4. Trend study: tracking indicator variables over a period of between two variables that can be better explained by a third time (unemployment, crime, dropout rates) variable. As an example, if after taking cold medication for seven days the symptoms disappear, one might assume the medication cured the illness. Most of us, however, would probably agree that the change experienced in cold symptoms are probably better explained by the passage of time rather than pharmacological effect (i.e., the cold would resolve itself in seven days irregardless of whether the medication was taken or not). Causation There is a difference between determining association and causation. Causation, often referred to as a relationship, cannot be proven with statistics. Statistical techniques provide evidence that a relationship exists through the use of significance testing and strength of association metrics. However, this evidence must be bolstered by an intellectual exercise that includes the theoretical basis of the research and logical assertion. The following presents the elements necessary for claiming causa- tion: External and Internal Validity There are two types of study designs, experimental and quasi- experimental. Experimental: The experimental design uses a control group and applies treatment to a second group. It provides the strongest evidence of causation through extensive controls and random assignment to remove other differences between groups. Using the evaluation of a job training program as an example, one could carefully select and randomly assign two groups of unemployed welfare recipients. One group would be provided job training and the other would not. If the two groups are similar in all other relevant characteristics, you could assume any differences between the groups employment one year later was caused by job training. Whenever you use an experimental design, both the internal and external validity can become very important factors. Internal validity: The extent to which accurate and unbiased association between the IV and DVs were obtained in the study group. External validity: The extent to which the association between the IV and DV is accurate and unbiased in populations outside the study group. Quasi-experimental: The quasi-experimental design does not have the controls employed in an experimental design (most social science research). Although internal validity is lower than can be obtained with an experimental design, external validity is generally better and a well designed study should allow for the use of statistical controls to compensate for extraneous variables. Types of Quasi-experimental Design 1. Cross-sectional study: obtained at one point in time (most surveys) 2. Case study: in-depth analysis of one entity, object, or event 3. Panel study: (cohort study) repeated cross-sectional studies over time with the same participants 6