Unit 2

Williamson, Burstein, and McKemmish

Deductive reasoning - moves from general principals to particular instances.
Inductive reasoning - begins with particular principals and moves to general statements.

Positivism Central Themes

• natural sciences and social sciences should be studied the same.
• all scientific knowledge is based on experience.

The world is a collection of observable events and facts.  It is a linear process, and most types of research done in this style are either experiments or rigorous surveys.  Uses hypothesis and testing to determine generalizations. A hypothesis is put forth and either proven or disproved. 

Interpretivism 

Naturalistic inquiry - field work in natural setting.

• They believe the social world is different than the natural world.  
• They make sense of their world on their own terms and believe in multiple realities which are individually constructed.  
• Constructivism, critical theory, and phenomenology (the study of experiences of phenomena) are some major paradigms.  
• Focused on the beliefs and feelings of those involved and how they interpret their reality.  They take on a less linear approach and do not use hypothesis.

Using Qualatative and Quantative research for the MLIS profession

User surveys (qualitative)

• Who is using the library and why?
• Who isn't using the library and why not?

Performance measures (quantatative) - what has been accomplished by specific programs.

Archive management (both)  - evolution of the system, how to preserve records digitialy

Information systems (both) - their roles and uses in society

Introduction to Imperial Research

Based on observations.
To avoid misleading results focus on: why, whom, how, and when.

• why - establishes need for study
• whom - entire population or just a sample
• how - objective tests, interviews, direct observation, or new measure

experimental research - giving treatments and seeing if they make observable changes in behavior.

• experimental group
• control group

true experiment - when the subjects are divided into two groups by random.

non-experimental studies - observe participants to see how they exist naturally.

one popular type is survey or poll

causal-comparative study - non-experimental but trying to identify possible causes of a current situation by looking at the past of those in the experiment.  Can have downfalls especially if participants are not chosen carefully, but is sometimes the only ethical or practical option.

other types of non-experimental studies:

• census
• case study
• longitudinal research

quantitative research - researchers gather data that is easy to quantify and use for statistical analysis.

qualitative research - researchers gather data that is analyzed through informed judgement and major and minor themes are identified.

variables - a trait with two or more categories.  All variables have mutually exclusive categories (if you belong to one you can not belong to another).

• independent 
• dependent

All experiments have at least one independent and one dependent variable.

research hypothesis - prediction of outcome

• directional
• non-directional

Quantitative vs Qualitative

outcomes

• quantitative - presented as quantities and/or numbers
• qualitative - trends or themes, not based on statistics

samples

• quantitative - larger, random
• qualitative - smaller, purposeful

when to use each

• some questions will lend themselves more to one or the other
• when little is known about the topic quantitative is usually preferred.
• when subjects belong to a closed off or little known about culture qualitative is best.
• participants not available for extensive interactions quantitative is preferred.
• time and funds limited, quantitative
• when hard numbers are required quantitative is preferred.