Quantitative and Qualitative methods in Library Research

Quantitative and Qualitative methods in Library Research Amy Catalano, Ed.D., MLS, MALS Associate Professor of Library Services, Hofstra University

Library Research • Library research tends to be rather poor. • Generally, studies are related to immediate practices and situations and are not generalizable. • Non-cumulative • Many academic librarians have not been trained to do empirical research

Which methods to choose? • Many new researchers make the mistake of choosing a method before they have a research question. • The research question will define the method • But, can you do the study well with the resources that you have?

Choosing a topic • “How I done it good” • Solving a problem you or your colleagues have had • Explore a theory (e.g., of information-seeking behavior) • Test the efficacy of an intervention • Exploring use of a library service • Explore use of a purchased resource (e.g., a database) • Look at reports published by ACRL which identifies areas of needed research. For example: The Value of Academic Libraries by Megan Oakleaf • Read through TOC/abstracts of recent issues of journals. • http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/value/val_report.pdf

Designing a research question • A research question should be focused enough to be answerable in an article, for example. “What are the information seeking behaviors of college students?” May be too broad. “What are in the information seeking behaviors of History graduate students writing a capstone paper?” is more focused.

Scientific Method • Identify a problem • Gather data • Develop a hypothesis • Empirically test that hypothesis by analyzing data

Implications for your Study • Does your study have implications for others in your field? If not, you should do some rethinking. • You study should: • -be replicable • -universally be able to be researched by others • -control: have parameters and identify factors that will affect your results (e.g., SES)

Research design basics: Participants And Sampling • Population: The larger group from which you will draw your sample (e.g., 250 undergraduate students registered with the Students with Disabilities Office) • Sample: Should be random, and therefore generalizable to the chosen population • However, convenience sampling is often the norm. • When doing a teaching intervention, for example, entire classes can be randomly assigned to conditions. This is cluster sampling.

Sample Size • Qualitative: between 1 and 70 (or even more). Although more than 20 is rare. More is not always better or useful in qualitative research. • It is better to ask is the sample representative of what you are investigating? • Quantitative: Varies by method: 30 for each group in experimental research. For surveys 10-20% of the population, although this depdents of the size of the population. • The more the merrier!

Research Design Basic: Instruments • If you are going to use a survey, interview protocol or test, you should ensure its reliability and validity. (pp. 61-66, Seligpani) • Reliability: How well an instrument consistently measures whatever it is measuring. • Validity: How well the instrument measures what it is supposed to measure. Several types of validity (e.g., content)

Qualitative RQ • Research Questions: • How does…, Why does…, (Process questions: the answer is not a number, more exploratory). • Methods: • Interviews, observations, discourse analysis • Some results can be quantified

Qualitative RQ • What are the perceptions of history students on the availability of primary sources electronically? • This question can be answered through different methods: • A survey • Interview • Focus group • A case study

Qualitative methods • Interviews • Not meant to be generalizable, so a small sample is acceptable • Diverse views are helpful • Structure or unstructured (or semi-structured) • Listen more, talk less. Ask open ended questions. • It is best to record an interview, which will allow you to take notes.

Observations • Watching participants to examine a phenomenon. • E.g., Observing students navigating a database without instruction to determine how they instinctively search. • Participant or non-participant • Taking notes and having a rubric • It is better to have more than one observer and to calibrate training and check on consistency of observations

Focus Groups • Like interviews, but includes several individuals to allow for a collected understanding • All participants must get their say • Recording and transcribing a good practice as the researcher will need to mediate the focus group • A follow-up interview is a good practice.

Examining Records • Archival documents • Data-mining: e.g., catalog use, use of services, via Millenium • Can also be quantified

Analyzing qualitative data • Coding: with transcripts of interviews, you may want to code particular words or phrases (with a number, for example) to determine whether a pattern emerges • Grounding results in the current literature • Triangulation and cross-checking: using multiple methods , data collection strategies, and sources to get a clear picture of what is being studied.

Quantitative RQ • To what extent did the distance education group perform better on the post-test than the face-to-face instruction group? • The question calls for a number as an answer.

Experimental research • Most rigorous • Treatment/control group • Manipulation of an independent variable • Random Assignment • Removal of the influence of any other variable (can do this with some stats tests) • All factors, except for the independent variable, should be the same • Use of pre-post test (often, but not always) • Ex. Do students who receive instruction via social media perform better on a digital literacy test than students who do not?

Quantitative methods: Surveys • When selecting an instrument search the literature first for one you can use or adapt • Check the reliability and validity • Administration in paper/person gives you a higher return. Online distribution is easier, but there is a lower rate of return (usually 10%) and responses tend to be biased. • Some survey types: tests of information literacy, service satisfaction and use, user-perceptions • Question phrasing is important to validity! • Sampling: convenience, random, snowball

Quantitative methods: Bibliometrics • Citation analysis: An examination of patterns or frequency of citations, authors, topics, methods etc. • May be used to link scholarly works to other authors • May be used to indicate the impact of a journal

Meta-Analysis • Not many opportunities in librarianship • Statistical compilation of the results of many studies on one topic. The results are generally the effect of an intervention.

Systematic Review/Meta-Synthesis • This is a systematic literature review • Often some systematic evaluation of existing studies is a part of the review • Appealing to librarians because it draws on their data mining • A common method in the health sciences an among health sciences librarians

Research Design basics: Data Analysis • Nominal: number stands in for a word, e.g., 1=female, 2=male • Ordinal: order 1st, 2nd, 3rd • Continuous: numbers from 0-?

Inferential Statistics • Allows the researcher to generalize to a population • SPSS, SAS, or Excel allows a researcher to perform inferential statistics.

Inferential Statistic Tests • Chi-Square: Nominal Data, tests a hypothesis • ANOVA/T-test: compares groups on an independent variable • Regression: Determines the weight of a predictor variable. Also determines which of several variables predicts an outcome

Mixed Methods • You can combine quant with qual to get a better picture of your inquiry. • For example, you can interview a selection of participants from those you have surveyed to determine why they answered in a particular manner.

Methods • Once you select a method, be sure to read further on best practices. • Other methods: • Case study • Ethnography • Causal/Comparative

Institutional Review Board • If you are going to be interacting with human beings in some way, you generally need to send a proposal to the IRB. • These humans include: students/faculty/staff at your institution, people at another institution (and you will need to work with the IRB at the institution as well), or anyone you plan to interact with via the telephone, survey, or test, for example.

IRB • You should be familiar with the Belmont report and basic Human Research principles. • A tutorial, quiz and certificate are available here:http://phrp.nihtraining.com/users/login.php

Resources • Connaway, L. S. (2010). Basic research methods for librarians (5th ed.). Santa Barbara, Calif: Libraries Unlimited. • Academic library research: perspectives and current trends. (2008). Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. • SPSS for Psychologists

Quantitative and Qualitative methods in Library Research