Competency L: Research
“You can’t stick it on with soap, Peter. It needs sewing.
That’s the proper way to do it.
Although come to think of it, I’ve never thought about it before…
Um… sewing shadows, I mean,”Wendy Moira Angela Darling, Peter Pan
Introduction
Research is essential to the furthering of the library and information science (LIS) profession. Whether quantitative or qualitative. To figure out just about anything that one doesn’t know in this world, professional research must be completed. Otherwise, how is one to find factual answers for anything? Dinh et al. (2024) of ASIS&T propose that in particular circumstances, modern informatics is completely crucial and needs to be further studied with haste. “Crisis informatics is centrally situated within the realms of LIS research and practice, given the focus on the interconnection between information, people, and technology during disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and global health crises. However, there is yet to be a community dedicated to crisis informatics research at ASIS&T…”
Quantitative and Qualitative Goals
My focus of study when working toward my Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) has been largely focused on attempting to become better-versed in informatics, statistical data analysis, and other database-related coding languages such as SQL and Python. While I ultimately did not take that final route in much of my coursework, I did complete the INFO 285 Survey Design class, and this experience taught me a lot about the ethical value of gathering data as well as how to handle quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research.
Mixed Methods and Information Literacy
In a three-year mixed methods study, Nierenberg et al. (2024) attempted to study information literacy engagement and determine whether the desire to be information literate increased over time. “When asked how their abilities to find, evaluate, and use sources had developed, most students expressed substantial growth in all three areas. Source evaluation was where their greatest information literacy growth had occurred, followed by searching for sources. Those planning to continue their education expressed the need to learn even more about finding and evaluating sources because of their instrumental value; they still had use for these skills.”
This illustrates the importance of quantitative and qualitative research in the library and information science (LIS) field because information literacy has become increasingly important for all students of higher education (and arguably, all people) and Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) holders are uniquely positioned to provide this ever-growing skillset. In addition, online data analysis has become so much more sophisticated that information literacy is crucial to understanding the world around us.
Narrative Bibliometrics
New data conceptualizations are consistently forming, such as Narrative Bibliometrics, a novel concept being studied by Torres-Salinas, et al. (2024). “ What exactly does Narrative Bibliometrics entail? It can be described as the ’Bibliometrics of common sense’, where raw data is given meaning in a logical manner. That is, it is a narrative that encourages researchers to analyze and contextualize each indicator, avoiding their isolated and disconnected presentation. This moves away from what has traditionally been known in Evaluative Bibliometrics as ‘bean counting’…”
With all of these emerging technologies springing forth, including in the library and information science (LIS) and informatics sector, it is truly unsurprising to note that all of the referenced materials have been written or discovered just this year. We are truly broaching a new frontier of data analytics and mixed-methods research as we live and breathe each day.
Conclusion
While quantitative and qualitative research has always been a major issue in library and information science (LIS), it is clear that new paths are being forged by the instant, and that as long as we as a collective group maintain ethical integrity and patient fastidiousness, we will triumph with rich mixed-methods rewards.
Artifacts and Evidence
Artifact 1
Assignment:
Course: INFO 285 Survey Design
Description:
I collaborated with a family friend who is an early childhood education professional to produce my final work for this class. She wanted to have an ongoing survey of other early childhood educator (ECE) professionals and their feelings on gender stereotypes in the workplace. Her wish was to confirm that there is a bias against male caregivers and that female or nonbinary caregivers also suffer as a result of this bias. Based on the information I had learned throughout the semester, we came up with a balanced and ethically sound survey that provided all of the questions that she wanted that were likely to glean helpful and direct answers. My only mistake in making this document is that she specifically requested to not have a fixed end date, which I was then marked down for despite pointing out the needs and desires of the “customer” requesting the survey. I regret not pushing the issue of having a set end date, even if the date was ultimately fictional and the survey was pushed ahead to another few weeks from that stated “end date”.
Artifact 2
Assignment:
Course: INFO 285 Survey Design
Description:
This assignment asked us to compare different types of bivariate research methods and quantitative calculations for survey questions. While quantitative methods are not my strongest suit, I did meet with the professor a few times to confirm and clarify these methods to ensure that I understood as well as possible what they were for and when they should be used. The assignment ranks my ability to do so, based on what I was taught during office hours by the professor, and this resulted in a positive outcome and positive grade on this project as well as the final, listed above. I would like to study more in the future regarding these techniques and methods as I am unsatisfied with my ability to study quantitative methods and tend to stick to qualitative methods instead. It seems prudent to note that prior to starting the MLIS program, I was unaware that informatics played such a strong role in the current landscape of the library and information science (LIS) program(s).
Artifact 3
Assignment:
Course: INFO 287 Digital Libraries
Description:
This project was not for Survey Design but instead was a critical review assigned by my Digital Libraries professor. I chose this book because I was extremely interested in the topic matter, which involved data mining and scraping of the internet and other resources to find information. Privacy is one of the key concerns, however, there are other issues at hand, such as cybersecurity. It is my belief, based on this project and others, that informatics will continue to become a vital part of information science, and that we should look to the future of the web and the future of interconnected data as world explorers might have once looked to the stars. Artificial Intelligence (AI) of any type is already inundating our entire world, and text mining is just another facet of that complicated and complex situation between human users and computer understanding. My goal is to eventually completely read the book as I believe I only included a chapter of it in this assignment for critical review.
References
Dinh, L., Hong, L., Dumas, C., Patin, B., Ghosh, S., Li, L., & Khoury, C. (2024). Social media and crisis informatics research in LIS. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 60(1), 725–728. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1093
Nierenberg, E., Solberg, M., Låg, T., & Dahl, T. I. (2024). A three-year mixed methods study of undergraduates’ information literacy development: Knowing, doing, and feeling. College & Research Libraries, 85(6), 804–815. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.85.6.804
Torres-Salinas, D., Orduña-Malea, E., Delgado-Vázquez, Á., Gorraiz, J., & Arroyo-Machado, W. (2024). Foundations of narrative bibliometrics. Journal of Informetrics, 18, Article 101546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2024.101546