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LIS 599 |
Revised June 26, 1998 |
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Methods of Research in Librarianship |
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Course Objectives
This course introduces research methods and elementary statistical procedures commonly used in library and information science. The stress is on comprehension and not on computation of statistics. No previous quantitative skill is assumed. All computations will be done with Minitab, an interactive statistical software program. Problem selection, study design and data interpretation are emphasized. The student will have a chance to apply class concepts to studies reported in the literature of library and information science.
Required Textbook
Minium, Edward W., King, Bruce M., & Bear, Gordon. Statistical Reasoning in Psychology and Education. Third edition. New York, NY: JohnWiley, 1993.
Statistics Textbooks on the Web:
Statistics: The Study of Stability in Variation
Statistics for the Mathematically Challenged
Supplementary Textbooks
The Kane Hall lab has several Minitab manuals.
Course Outline
[The page references are to the Minium, King & Bear book.]
1. Populations and samples; Parameters and statistics; Dependent and independent variables; Operational definitions; Scales of measurement.
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Read |
Chapter 1: 1 - 12 |
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Read |
Chapter 2: 15 - 24 |
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Do |
Find a study. Indicate the population(s) and sample(s) used, the dependent and independent variable(s), any operational definitions and constants, and the scales of measurement used. |
2. Histograms; Frequency distribution polygons; Shapes of frequency distributions.
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Skim |
Chapter 4: 49 - 56, 62 - 66 |
3. Measures of Central Tendency: Mode, Median & Mean; Measures of Central Tendency and Skewed Distributions.
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Read |
Chapter 5: 71 - 82 |
4. Range; Standard Deviation and Variance for Samples
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Read |
Chapter 6: 87 - 104 |
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Ignore |
Sections: 6.2, 6.6, 6.8 |
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Data sources for exercises: |
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Do |
Find a study. Critique its use of measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion. Are there skewed distributions? Is the coefficient of variation helpful? |
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"But how in the world will I find an article with measures of central tendency?" |
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5. Minitab
6. Random Sampling
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Read |
Chapter 13: 234 - 240 |
7. Questionnaire Design, Sampling, Research Issues
I am grateful to have used the following excellent discussion of the
questionnaire as a data source:
Whitney, D.R. (1972, April). The questionnaire as a data source.
(Technical Bulletin No. 13). Iowa City: University Evaluation and
Examination Service. Prepared for the American Educational Research
Association training session on Data Collection in Education Research
and Evaluation.
8. Z scores; The z-score formula; using z-scores for comparisons.
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Re-read |
Chapter 6: 99 - 104 |
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Read |
Chapter 7: 109 - 124 |
9. Distribution of sample means; Central Limit Theorem.
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Read |
Chapter 13: 231 - 247 |
10. Hypothesis testing; Null and alternative hypotheses; Type I and II errors; Estimation with the t statistic.
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Read |
Chapter 14: 253 - 276 |
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Read |
Chapter 15: 283 - 295 |
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Read |
Chapter 18: 339 - 343 |
11. Independent samples t-test; F-test for variances; Mann-Whitney U test
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Read |
Chapter 16: 299 - 317 |
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Read |
Chapter 24: 479 - 482 |
12. Dependent samples t-test
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Read |
Chapter 17: 323-334 |
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Read |
Chapter 24: 488-490 |
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Do |
Find a study that presents a t-test and critique its use and presentation. |
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"But it'll take me days and days to find a t-test and anyway the sun is shining." |
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13. Chi-square goodness of fit test; Chi-square test of independence.
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Read |
Chapter 23: 453 - 470 |
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Do |
Find a study that presents a chi-square test and critique its use and presentation. |
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"But it'll take me days and days to find a chi-square test and anyway this is summer school." |
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14. Inferences about the Pearson Correlation Coefficients
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Read |
Chapter 22: 441 - 450 |