Syllabus

Over the last century or so, many sets of techniques have been developed to structure and support the search for understanding, descriptions, explanations, and predictions about the universe of social and other phenomena. This course will discuss a number of these methods, both in the quantitative and qualitative realms. Other kinds of methods (historical, theoretical, and so on) are equally valid, and indeed are more appropriate in many settings, but the ones we discuss are among the more widely used and respected in the information and library sciences.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, it is expected that students will:

· understand concepts underlying the investigation of phenomena

· understand and be able to select and use techniques for investigating phenomena

· be able to develop, plan and execute an investigation

· be able to do elementary analyses of data

(Very) (Tentative) Outline of Topics, including What to Do This Week

Week	Date	Discussion topics
1	4 Jan	Introduction
2	11 Jan	Ways of Knowing, Nature of Scientific Inquiry & Communication, Goals & Types of Investigation, Paradigms, Theory Development slides
3	18 Jan	Hypotheses, Research Questions, Ethics, Research Design
4	25 Jan	Conceptualization & Operationalization, Measurement slides
5	1 Feb	Assessment & Evaluation, Qualitative Data Collection slides
6	8 Feb	Reliability, Validity, Trustworthiness, Credibility, Qualitative Data Analysis
7	15 Feb	Observation, Sampling
8	22 Feb	Ethnographic Research, Surveys
9	1 Mar	TBA
10	8 Mar	TBA

Text

John Creswell, Educational Research 3^rd edition, 2008 (Pearson Prentice Hall)

Evaluation Criteria

There will be several categories of work that will be used to assess student program for this course. There may also be other, ungraded, small assignments and exercises.

Important note: Assignments will be due in class on the date specified. Late assignments will only be accepted (a) if you have discussed this with me and received an extension in advance or (b) if a sudden illness or other emergency arises. In such an instance, after receipt of appropriate evidence, a reasonable extension will be graded. I reserve the right either not to accept other late work or to assess a penalty, at my discretion.

Final grades will be assessed according to the following schedule:

Preliminary Proposal	25 indiv or group
Conference Paper Analysis	20 individual
Assessment Exercise	25 group
Research Evaluation	30 individual
	100

Other Stuff

office:	330M Mary Gates Hall
phone:	206 616-0987
email:	jwj@uw.edu
office hours:	Tuesday 3:30 – 4:30 + by appointment

See also my general expectations for classes. I will assume that you have read and understood these expectations; always feel free to ask any questions you like about them.

Academic Integrity

The essence of academic life revolves around respect not only for the ideas of others, but also their rights to those ideas and their promulgation. It is therefore essential that all of us engaged in the life of the mind take the utmost care that the ideas and expressions of ideas of other people always be appropriately handled, and, where necessary, cited.

Specifically, in working on assignments for this course, I encourage you to feel free to work together with other students in discussing the assignments, possible approaches and ideas, etc. In group work, I will assume that the product submitted equitably represents the work of all members. If difficulties arise, you should seek resolution within the group first; if this doesn’t succeed, please talk to me about how to proceed.

For writing assignments, when ideas or materials of others are used, they must be cited. The format is not that important--as long as the source material can be located and the citation verified, it's OK. What is important is that it’s clear to me what’s yours and what isn’t.

In any other situations, if you have a question, please feel free to ask. Such attention to ideas and acknowledgment of their sources is central not only to academic life, but life in general.