Research!

Introduction Research is just a strategy for figuring out answers to problems: Get an idea Work it into a hypothesis Figure out how to figure it out Do that See what happened Make some changes

Get an idea This is where it all starts! And sometimes, this is the hardest part That is usually only if you are assigned to “do a research project” At work – it’s easy to find things!

Work it into a hypothesis This is where it becomes more research-y, and develop an actual point Transform “hey, we should be greener in this LIS organization” into a research question or statement What strategies will help us to reduce the amount of paper used? I want to know how other libraries measure their carbon emission levels. What green strategies are archives using in preservation?

Figure out how to figure it out Better known as Methodology There are two basic ways to approach research problems Quantitative: using numbers, and statistics, to answer your question Qualitative: uses more concepts than numbers – observations, asking why people do things, etc.; more common in social science

Quantitative methodology “Quantitative research deals in numbers, logic and the objective, focusing on logic, numbers, and unchanging static data and detailed, convergent reasoning rather than divergent reasoning.” http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=615867 (interesting resource – look through this!)

Some Quantitative resources http://www.microsiris.com/Statistical%20Decision%20Tree/ I love this site – it asks you questions about your work and guides you to the best statistical test http://vassarstats.net/ I officially love Vassar because of this site! You type in your raw data, and it does the stats work for you. http://www.socr.ucla.edu/SOCR.html some useful stats info here http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/statistics/tress4.html an archived site, but I like the basic info it gives – not too complex, but useful http://stats.stackexchange.com/ feeling the statistics joy? Dive in here for more! 

Qualitative research This is more commonly used in LIS than those “scary” stats and numbers Numbers and stats are not REALLY scary of course! But I have found a lot of fear leading to avoidance, and people just leaping to qualitative methods Either can be appropriate – just think about what is best for your research work

There are a many different methods here! http://www.vtstutorials.co.uk/tutorial /socialresearchmethods I haven’t been through this entire thing, but it looks interesting – try it! A handy guide: http://www.ccs.neu.edu/course/is48 00sp12/resources/qualmethods.pdf A few types of methodologies: Engaged theory Ethnography Grounded theory Living educational theory Hermeneutics Life history Participatory action research Phenomenology Ethnographic Research Philosophical Critical Social Research Ethical Inquiry Foundational Research Historical Research

Next step: Do that This is not hard to figure out, but people start falling apart at this stage DO RESEARCH! IT’S FUN! IT’S HELPFUL! YOU CAN LEARN COOL STUFF! (was that too subtle??)

See what happened This is the fun part: Take all your data and see what you found! If this does not sound so fun – just wait until you try it!  It is surprisingly fun to see all the cool things people said, or piles of papers, or vast quantities of numbers! This is analysis – and this is how you figure out what you found

Make some changes Yay! Now you know things! Look at the situation you were in before the research, apply what you have learned, and make some changes for the better Those might involve continuing to be exactly as you were – but now you have an evidence-based reasoning for doing that

Conclusion Research can provide you and your organization will all sorts of useful information Use it to: Solve problems Make decisions See what is going on Get better Look at research articles to see what other ideas might be helpful!