Unit 2 Humanities-Oriented Research - American Education Research Association Publications

American Educational Research Association. (2009, August/September). Standards for reporting on humanities-oriented research in AERA publications. Educational Researcher, 38(6), 481-86

Humanities-oriented research
methods - understand explicit and implicit messages & meanings, point out tensions and contradictions, compare and critique on ethical or value-oriented grounds. use of interpretive methods, investigate history, meanings, values, beliefs and discourse of social life
purposes - exploration and understanding of forms of human existence, relationships among reason and emotion, the ethical life, the good life, the just society, the characteristics of the good citizen
concepts of self, knowledge and its grounds, the arts and appreciation
how reason and emotion are represented in school practices or role education plays in formation of citizenry
content - Studies of education in traditional disciplines - linguistics, literary theory, history, jurisprudence, philosophy & religion, cultural anthropology, sociology, economics & political science, critical, arts-based and narrative not exclusive to any particular discipline but closely resemble humanities

Standards:

• significance - works employing feminist, poststructuralist, postcolonialist, arts-based, designed explicitly to explore new paths
• significance of topic
• appropriateness of topic
• use of scholarly literature
• scholarly contribution
• methods - interpretive, qualitative and conceptions / can include quantitative, varied, open-ended methods
• identification of methods
• appropriateness of methods
• execution of methods
• conceptualization - relatively explicit about conceptualization of work with general educational audiences
• identification of perspective
• identificaiton of aims
• conceptualization of the inquiry
• scope and limits of the inquiry
• substantiation - careful selection of various material for inclusion that support its portrayal or argument
• warrant/credibility
• use of scholarly literature
• use of empiracal evidence and other intellectual resources
• critical qualities
• coherence - skilled application of the principles and procedures of reasoning and meaning construction in different traditions 
• internal coherence
• external coherence
• quality of communication- choice of title, abstract, headings, words and ideas ctnral o exploration, clarity of presentation & writing, accessible to readers in several disciplines referenced, explain or translate terms or references, special attention to titles, unexamined assumptions, critical aspects of social phenomena, fully inform reader of subject matter
• clarity of manuscript for intended audience
• title of the manuscript - electronic indexing and searching
• the abstract - self contained, concise and accurate
• headings and subheadings central points in line of reasoning
•  ethics - appropriate attribution to others without plagiarism or misappropriation of the writing or ideas to others, funding, support, issues of conflict of interesst
• human consent/access to information
• perspectives and voice
• bias
• evidence / reasoning
• funding / sponsorship

Unit 2 Standards for Reporting on Empirical Social Science Research

American Educational Research Association. (2006, August/September). Standards for reporting on empirical social science research in AERA publications. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 33-40

Social Sciences uses qualitative & quantitative methods, Reviews of research, theoretical, conceptual or methodological essays, critiques of research traditions and practices

TWO overarching principals - 

• warranted - justify the results and conclusions
• transparent - logic of inquiry - activities that led to development of initial interest, topic, problem, articulated outcomes to understand one another's work, prepares for scrutiny and enables others to use the work.

Reporting Standards 

1. Problem Formulation - 
1. clear statement of the purpose
2. contribution to knowledge
1. new line to existing
2. needed
3. intended scope
4. practical concerns
5. information lacking
6. review of relevant scholarship
7. rational for conceptual, methodological or theoretical orientation
8. as it relates to the groups studied
2. Design and Logic
1. follow clear logic of inquiry
2. specific and unambiguous description of the design
3. Sources of Evidence
1. units of study - means of selection, 
2. relevant characteristics of the site, group, participants, events or other units of study
3. rational for selection
4. compare groups
5. intervention or treatment
6. collection of data or empirical materials
7. descriptions of time and duration, schedule, contexts, focus of collection and how it was done, ways identified, references to original description
8. description of guides or protocols to convey properties open ended or formal interviews
4. Measurement and Classification 
1. development of measurements and classifications clearly described
2. classification parts and exhaustive
3. coding
4. relevant descriptive statistics
5. scales and composites
6. suitable dependability
7. transcriptionns of audio or video recordings
8. relavance of a measurement or classification
5. Analysis and Interpretation - procedures for analysis, techniques, how support conclusions, intended or unintended circumstances, presentation of conclusions
1. Quantitative Methods - what statisical anlaysis conducted and appropriateness, descriptive and inferential , considerations, results
2. Qualitative Methods - process of developing the descriptions, claims and interpretations, evidences of warrant, practices that enhance the warrant, interpretive commentary
6. Generalization - 
1. specifics of the participants, contexts, activitees, data collections and manipulations
2. intended scope
3. logic that findings should apply
7. Ethics in Reporting - 
1. data collection analysis and reporting
2. agreements
3. conflicts of interest or biases
4. accurated stated
5. relevant data or empiricl materials 
6. funding support
8. Title, Abstract & Headings
1. title should convey accurately
2. abstract summary in accordance with the format and structure required
3. headings and subheadings make clear logic of inquiry

Unit 2 Operational Definitions of Variables

 PattenTopics1-10.pdf page 17

Dictionary provided conceptual definition of variable not adequate because it does not indicate the precise concrete or physical steps to identify the variable. Must be operational or report is vague, limited usefulness, result in inability to replicate study.

Redefining a variable in terms of physical steps is called operationalizing it.

• physical arrangements (standing, type of room, gender of researcher, acquainted with?) infinite number of physical characteristics (humidity, wall color, etc)

Definition produced to adequately REPLICATE it, to CONFIRM results.

• Clear definition, non-ambiguous words (self-esteem = NO, social/work/etc)

Treatments 

• Verbal praise (type, frequency, conditions)

PRECISE definition of variable = Operational

 

Unit 2 Concepts of Research Hypotheses, Purposes & Questions

 PattenTopics1-10.pdf , page 15

1. Research Hypothesis (directional) - prediction of the outcome of a study

• educated guess
• formal theory

test prediction - non-experimental study

simple research predicts relationship between 2 variables

2. Non-directional hypothesis

• predict difference, but no basis of direction of difference
• 3. Alternatively state a RESEARCH Purpose
• How do these differ?

Choice - matter of taste - all are acceptable

Unit 2 Variables in Non-experimental and Experimental Studies

 PattenTopics1-10.pdf page 11

Variable: trait or characteristic with two or more categories
Example

• gender
• male / female
• preferred candidate
• a, b, or c

Categories 

• mutually exclusive
• only one choice
• exhaustive
• for EVERY option
• naming or quantitative

Variables in non-experimental studies

• independent - presumed cause - comes first - PREDICTOR
• do NOT manipulate, simply observe as they occur naturally
• dependent - response or outcome - comes later - CRITERION (standard by which predictor is judged)

True: Valid

False: Invalid

 PattenTopics1-10.pdf page 13

Variables in experimental studies - Can obtain more information.

• independent - presumed cause - comes first - PREDICTOR (stimulus or input variable)
• physically manipulate independent variables
• giving a new drug or not giving
• providing computers
• using group counseling
• can be more than one (Causal effects o combinations)
• dependent - response or outcome - comes later - CRITERION (standard by which predictor is judged) - CHANGE in behavior ?
• improvement?
• attitude

Unit 2 Experimental vs Causal-Comparative Studies

PattenTopics1-10.pdf, page 7

Unit 2 Experimental vs Non-experimental Research

Unit 2 Empirical Research at Introductory level

Unit 2 Different Research Methods in LIS Practice

WilliamsonChp2.pdf page 38-42

• Librarianship/Information Management
• user studies / who & why and who-not
• specific areas of service
• evaluation of information service
• focus on program, service or product
• focus on consumer, client, customer, actual or potential
• Performance measurement
• what has been accomplished by specific programs, services or resource availability
• Archives & Records
• old discipline, tradition of research in diplomatic and historiography
• records & archives 
• long term preservation of electronic records
• develop a taxonomy of record types in e-systems
• help to identify functional requirement for preserving authentic records
• historigraphical studies of archival institutions
• development of archival practice and systems 
• Employs range of methods drawn from science disciplines
• surveys, structured interviews, case studies, action research, ethnography, grounded theory development, analysis of literacy warrant of best practices and narrative analysis
• Recordkeeping Professional discourse
• continuum thinking - frame of reference
• development of e-recordkeeping regines
• standards and best practices
• Collaborative
• academic and industry
• international arena
• multi-disciplinary
• Information Systems
• explore aspects of roles, functions and use in organizations and society
• quantitative - surveys, analysis of org data and case studies
• wide range of examples in leading info systems research journals
• MIS Quarterly
• Information Systems Journal
• International Journal of Information Systems Applications
• Guidelines for survey design and tested instruments - 
• ISWorld Net 
• Examples
• how chief execs in orgs conduct their work
• information they utilize
• how it supports them
• comparison of results in Australia/similar studies in US
• use of computers by senior execs
• use of info technology support mgrs coordinating network orgs
• major areas of concern (dimensions)
• coordinate operations of network org & current implementation
• relationship between info technology investment and firm performance
• document empirical findings of relationship
• future comparative study
• different cultural contexts
• investigate variations of requirement of users and approaches to reflect differences in data modeling for IT systems developement

Unit 2 Combined Quantitative & Qualitative Research for Problem Solving

Combining Qualitative and Qualitative Methods
WilliamsonChp2.pdf page 34, 36, 37

No Agreement on whether should be combined or not

 - con: methods favored by each cannot be easily combined
 - pro: use of different kinds of thinking make a full understanding more likely
 - great care needs to be taken
 - separate and distinct, with different purposes, methods and outcomes


Deductive - Positivist = quantitative
Inductive - interpretivist = qualitative (naturalistic inquiry, constructivism and phenomenology)

many researchers feel combined approaches are acceptable and even desirable.

Design should be matched to the questions to be investigated.
Triangulation popular approach enables checking of findings by different collection methods.

• methods triangulation - check consistency of findings using different data collection methods, all one or all the other or mixture of the two
• source triangulation - conclusions likely to be more reliable if collected by more than one method and perspective of more than one source. take advantage of strength and weakness of each.

Unit 2 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

WilliamsonChp2.pdf
PyrczakAppendixAQuanQual.pdf 

Quantitative - statistical results with Results Section - statistical averages/percentages

Social & Behavioral Sciences 1900's => majority today

Characteristics

• one or more specific, explicitly stated research hypotheses, narrow-focus
• random sample representing larger population
• large, 1500 for national
• score objectively  - multiple choice / attitude scales
• describe results using statistics, inferences to population source for sample

Further characterized by distance with limited contact researcher-participant

• no direct contact
• prearranged script
• avoid unplanned personal characteristics
• objective and distant

Qualitative - word usually included in title / introduction - within report

Social & Behavioral Sciences long tradition

Applied Sciences in recent decades

Results Section is narrative describing themes and trends, participant quotations

Characteristics

• general question / problem with no hypotheses (may emerge later), subject to change with fluid interaction between data collection, data analysis and emerging hypotheses or theories
• purposive sample, not random, intentionally drawn, appropriate to 'problem'
• small sample, classroom, church etc.
• unstructured instruments - semi-structured interview / unstructured direct observations
• spend extended periods of time, in-depth insights / phenomena of interest
• use words to understand particular sample, de-emphasis on generalizations to larger population

Further characterized by researchers awareness - orientation, bias, experiences

• how these affect collection and interpretation
• include statement on these issues and steps taken to see beyond to understand participants pov
• personal and interactive

Unit 2 Interpretivist Research Approaches and Applications

WilliamsonChp2.pdf pages 25-26, 30-34

One of Two  major traditions of research in Social Sciences. These philosophies - 'ontologies' (approaches to social inquiry)

Interpretive (ist); emphasize the meanings made by people as they interpret their world

dichotomous with  positivists tradition of research - differences can be subtle.

Qualitative approaches are linked with Interpretivism

One of Two styles of reasoning, inductive reasoning associated with the inductive reasoning.

inductive reasoning begins with particular instances and concludes with general statements or principles:

example:
tom, jim and pam, aged 60+ are not internet savvy. most 60+ true? then conclude people over 60 unlikely to be internet savvy.

Inductive reasoning associated with hypothesis generating approach. field work and observations occur initially, hypotheses generated.

INTERPRETATIVE(ISM);

Umbrella term =>Qualitative / Quantitative can be used.

• favor naturalistic inquiry - field work in natural setting, concerned with meaning
• Social world interpreted or constructed by people (different from nature).
• Originated in hermeneutics - intellectual tradition, interpretation of texts then social life
• People constantly involved in interpreting ever changing world. 
• develop meaningsgs - socially constructing reality
• make sense of world on individual basis
• develop their own meanings, 
• different one from another
• personally construct reality 'sense making' theory
• People are constantly involved in making sense of or interpreting their world

• Constructionist key interpretative paradigm 
• Critical theory
• phenomenology - penetrates essence of human experience by focus on phenomena or 'things themselves'

• Personal meanings derived from context of direct experiencing
• symbolic interaction ism, individual is creative thinking entity capable of choosing behavior rather than reacting, as implied by functionalist theories. 
• Ethnography study of culture (according to anthropologists)

Dealing with multiple realities, socially and individually constructed. - layers of an onion, within or complimenting each other. none more true than the other.

Interpretist researchers plan their study to gain understanding of topic, develop theory and ?'s, plan how to collect data and are totally open to setting and subject. Collection provides unexpected perspectives on question and researcher may adjust ? and collection to take new perspectives into account.

Hypothesis not mentioned nor tested. may develop a propositions grounded in perspectives of participants.
In contrast to positivism, no demand to replicate the research. Recognize certain phenomena confined in time and place, not random sampling, might be quite small appropriate to a particular problem or special population.

Validity - similar studies and compare results
Reliability - consistency, compare to literature

Unit 2 Positivist Approaches to Research / Traditional Uses

WilliamsonChp2.pdf pages 25-29

One of Two  major traditions of research in Social Sciences. These philosophies - 'ontologies' (approaches to social inquiry)

Positivist; apply research methods used in natural sciences to the social sciences.

dichotomous with interpretative (ist) tradition of research - differences can be subtle.

Quantitative approaches are linked with Positivism

One of Two styles of reasoning, deductive reasoning associated with the scientific (positivist) approach.

Deductive reasoning = hypothesis testing, argument moves from general principles to particular instances

example;

• premise; over 65 unlikely user of internet
• premise: tom is 75
• conclusion: tom is unlikely user of internet

If premises are true, guarantees truth of conclusion

Positivist Paradigm(a set of interrelated assumptions about the social world which provides a philosophical and conceptual framework for the systematic study of that world) = Quantitative, sometimes qualitative (post-positivists).

Central Themes:

• natural sciences & social sciences sb investigated same way. cause & effects linked. Goal=unification of all sciences
• all scientific knowledge based on experience (empirically observable impressions) , only based on what can be objectively observed and experienced (empiricism).

See the world as a collection of observable events and measurable facts

• experimental design
• survey

Sample - scientifically selected with

• validity (accuracy)
• reliability (extent it measures what it is designed to measure)  
• consistent, stable research with replication.

1. Research Designs = Deductive styles of reasoning, as used in natural sciences
2. deductive or hypothesis begin with theories and models
3. defines variables (age & frequency
4. predicts relationships thru framing of hypotheses 
5. test hypotheses

• Sample is random, 
• quantitative data collected (qualitative may be included
• generalizations made

This search for general laws, central to positivist approach is nomothetic (Pertaining to the search for general laws).

• Clear cut & linear

Aim of deductive(ists) - refute their hypotheses or FALSIFY them

1. putting forward tentative idea, conjecture, hypothesis or set of, forming a theory.
2. tested by collection of observations, experiment. 

• if data NOT consistent with hypotheses? latter is rejected, theory regarded as false.
• if data ARE consistent with hypotheses, theory is supported, corroborated, not proved to be true. 

Both hypotheses and theories are supported by the data (NOT proved).

Post Positivists (like originals) assume reality exists, post believe not easy to discover because of basically flawed human intellectual mechanisms and fundamentally intractable nature of phenomena. 

posts believe reality must be subjected to widest possible critical examination. more natural settings and solicit insider view rather than outsider. Qualitative methods are important - some similarities with interpretative (ist). 

Unit 2 Deductive vs Inductive Reasoning

WilliamsonChp2.pdf page 37-38

Deductive - Positivist = quantitative
Inductive - interpretivist = qualitative (naturalistic inquiry, constructivism and phenomenology)

many researchers feel combined approaches are acceptable and even desirable.

Design should be matched to the questions to be investigated.
Triangulation popular approach enables checking of findings by different collection methods.

Unit 2 Major Philosophical Debates in Research

WilliamsonChp2.pdf page 25-27

Research

• Deductive - Positivist = quantitative
• Inductive - interpretivist = qualitative (naturalistic inquiry, constructivism and phenomenology)

many researchers feel combined approaches are acceptable and even desirable.

Design should be matched to the questions to be investigated.
Triangulation popular approach enables checking of findings by different collection methods.

Reasoning Styles

• Deductive - Positivist = quantitative
• Inductive - interpretivist = qualitative (naturalistic inquiry, constructivism and phenomenology)

Introductory Readings

January 10, 2017
Connaway & Powell Chapter 1
Research and Librarianship

More than one definition

• Merriam Webster - studious inquiry or examination; investigation or experimentation - discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in light of new facts or practical applications of such new or revised theories or laws. 

• Hillway - method of study - careful and exhaustive investigation of all the ascertainable evidence, reach a solution to problems w/planned and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data.

Two Major Types of Research

• Basic - purely theoretical or scientific, deriving new knowledge, INDIRECTLY involved with application of that knowledge 
• Hypothesis and theories NOT directly related to technical and practical problem
• Acquire knowledge for its own sake
• Produce generalized new knowledge
• Often leads to practical applications
• Applied - Solving Specific problems in REAL SITUATIONS
• Frequently acts as foundation for subsequent theoretical or basic research.
• Techniques:
• Systems Analysis 
• Operations Research
• For example: evaluating book collections or automated circulation systems

Various philosophies regarding integration of these two methods

• distinction is not always clear
• both are oreinted toward the discovery of scientific truth
• lead to the solution of people's problems
• relevancy most important whether basic or applied

Quantitative or Qualitative?

• Quantitative 

highly structured

relies on quantification of concepts - measurement and evaluation

• Qualitative

attempt to understand behavior

natural approach