Offer of data

I'll put this offer out for anyone who might be interested. If you are still looking for some data files to analyze, I can provide a file of over 800 e-mail reference questions. I had toyed with the idea of working on these myself, but I'm probably a little to close to the situation to really be as objective as I should be. These questions were submitted to the e-mail reference system at my library and I'm one of the primary people responsible for answering them. Since I'm so close to the data, I probably would have some preconceived notions about the results that might impact the analysis. So, although I'd love to see an analysis of this data, I'm planning other projects. However, if you still need data, we can probably work something out.

--Blaine

Project Proposal

I suppose my proposed project for this class will fall under the heading of "Action Research" since it is not really aimed at overall generalizability, but rather to answer specific questions facing the staff of the library where I work.

I actually have two proposals I'm working on. The first (analyzing the results of a focus group of graduate students) is what I would like to accomplish, but I have serious doubts that the project can happen in the timeframe of this class. If it was entirely up to me, I would try to push the project through and have it completed by the end of the semester. However, I'm not working alone but as part of a committee and the schedules of these people have to be taken into consideration. So, I do have a backup plan which is, frankly, the more likely to happen than the focus groups. The backup idea is to analyze the comments from a web survey.

A little background is in order..... The IUP Libraries (my institution) have been involved in several planning projects to map out where we are headed. As part of these processes, we've conducted several data collection projects to see what our primary clientele think of the library resources and services. Two years ago, IUP participated in the LIBQUAL survey (link to the LIBQUAL site). The study, conducted as a web survey, provided us with a snapshot of our students' and faculty's ratings of our services. One of the most significant findings of the survey was the disparity between graduate students' expected level of service and the perceived level of service they receive from the library. As a result, the library administration is looking for ways to improve service specifically for graduate students.

Library has an established Marketing Committee (of which I'm a member) that is charged with researching and providing recommendations for action on just such issues. The Committee is currently planning a focus group to be composed of graduate students. The questions asked during the focus group will deal with what type of services the graduate students expect and how they prefer to receive information about library resources and services. The Committee has enlisted the assistance of an internal consultant -- a Marketing Department professor with extensive experience in conducting focus groups. The Marketing Committee is hoping to conduct the focus group session before IUP's spring break (the week after Pitt's), but our consultant's time is very much in demand. If all goes well, the focus group will happen in a timely fashion and I'll have data to work on. But, realistically, I need a backup project.

The backup project is related to the focus group idea, but has a wider base. IUP is in the midst of its decennial review by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (see their web site for more information on the Middle States mission) for accreditation purposes. Almost every area of campus has had to complete a self-study process in order to submit data for the university-wide self-study document. The Library was no exception. Several committees, comprised of both librarians and classroom faculty gathered data and made recommendations. One of the library-related self-study committees conducted a web-based survey that asked questions similar to (but not the same as) the LIBQUAL survey. The numeric results of the survey were included in the self-study report and the authors did some preliminary evaluation of the answers to the open-ended questions. Since the survey was web-based, the results are already in machine readable text and I have access to an Excel file of the comments. If you are interested, you can click here to see the data yourself.

Quant vs. Qual

In response to the discussion in class on the 18th, I started to sketch a sort of visual model for how I'm beginning to think about the different research styles. I've put together a pretty crude graphic that shows the beginnings of this model. Please forgive me if this exercise seems a bit elementary, but it's one of the ways that I deal with information.

Essentially, I've defined all products of research (any method) as a two-dimensional universe with one axis (the horizontal) as individual subjects and the other (the vertical) as what I call the aspect of experience. So, any coordinate on this plane would be an individual subject's particular experience of something.

I see qualitative research as very vertical in this model. It looks many aspects of a small number of subjects. In order completely describe the universe, the qualitative study would need to be repeated (visualize vertical bars progressing left and right -- I don't have enough graphics experience to animate the model to do this, yet!). Taken to the extreme, qualitative research could be seen as learning more and more about less and less (till we know everything about nothing? the ultimate specialist!)

Quantitative research in this model is horizontal. It looks at a small number of aspect of a large number of subjects. (Is it less and less about more and more, till we know nothing about everything? the ultimate generalist!).

I've also tried to add mixed methods to this model. I think I can see why mixed methods may be so popular. These types of studies can potentially describe more territory than the other two, depending on how they are structured. However, I'll leave that discussion for another post.

So, what do you think of my first attempts at a research model?

Coding

During the Jan. 18th class, we started to get into a discussion about coding and I wanted to share some of my earliest exposure to the concept of coding and a really great resource that illustrates the practical applications of coded material.

Very early in my career (even before I went to Library School), I had a position in the Serials Department at my library. A couple of months after I started there, the department took over control of the library's microforms collection. It was a closed stack system and I was the supervisor of the students who retrieved materials from this collection for our users. Since there was usually not a librarian available during my shifts, I had to become familiar with a wide range of microform collections in order to assist our users.

The collection that I want to mention is the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF). It is a set of materials dealing with anthropology, ethnology, etc., primarily used by our Sociology/Anthropology department. The way the collection is arranged is very unique and shows the power of coded qualitative data. The source data for the collection includes published books and articles as well as some unpublished reports and theses. The material was arranged according to coding schemes published as Outline of World Cultures (OWC) and Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM).

The OWC assigned a code number to each cultural group or ethnic group from around the world. These codes are an alpha/numeric combination that fit into a hierarchical structure. For example, the Navaho Native American tribe was assigned the code NT13. N signifies North America (A for Asia, E for Europe, F for Africa - I guess A was already taken - etc.). The T signifies Southwestern States and then the number is just a sequence number.

The OMC assigned three-digit numeric codes to cultural aspects that, again, could fit into a hierarchical structure. For example, all codes beginning with "20" deal with "Communication" and are further subdivided into 201 - Gestures and Signs, 202 Transmission of Messages, 203 - dissemination of News and Information, etc.

The developers of HRAF would take each page of each source document and notate each paragraph with the code(s) of the cultural aspect(s) that it discussed. This seems to me to be the exact same process that we would use when coding textual materials with NUD*IST or ATLAS.ti. I've posted a couple of pages copied from our HRAF collection as HRAF1 and HRAF2.
The code number for the culture (AO7) is at the top of the page and the codes for the cultural aspects are down the margin.

Since HRAF started in the days before computers, their method of arranging the pages was unique. After each page was coded, they would make a copy of the page for each different OCM code contained on that page and then file by the numbers. A dot indicated which file number this copy of the page belonged to. This created a LOT of redundancy in the files, but it was very convenient for data retrieval. If you were interested in how a particular culture experienced radio and television, for example, you would just retrieve file # 207. Then you would have all of the paragraphs from all of the sources for that culture that referred to radio and television. If you were doing a cross-cultural analysis, you just retrieved file #207 from each of the cultures you were examining. A really efficient way of gathering materials.

IUP only has older HRAF files in microform, but many institutions had paper files. Pitt did, and may still have them, somewhere. However, the data has now been incorporated into an electronic database called eHRAF Collection of Ethnography. It is available on Hillman Library's list of available databases. You may want to explore its electronic incarnation. It's a lot easier to navigate and certainly easier to store and requires no filing. But, you can still see that the coding system established back in the 1960's is still very much in use.

I will bring along to class on Wednesday copies of the OWC and OCM and some sample pages if you'd like to take a closer look.

--Blaine

Musings on the Jan 11th Class

Perhaps the most interesting and valuable piece of information I gleaned from this class was in Dr. Hamilton's presentation. The idea of e-mail interviews is particularly intriguing. Obviously, the most compelling reason for using e-mail interviews is that it eliminates the need to transcribe verbal data. That can be a serious consideration for the logistics of your research.

While e-mail interviewing may not be as spontaneous as face-to-face or telephone interviewing, I believe that it would provide the interviewee more time for a considered response which should let the person make sure that what is written is exactly (or as close to exactly as possible) what is meant. It would save the respondent from the embarassing struggle for words that often happens in real time interviews. The interviewee should be more at ease and, hopefully, provide a more complete answer.

E-mail interviews also gives the interviewer more time to consider follow-up questions based on responses. This can be very helpful for novice interviewers who don't have to respond on the fly.

I intend to investigate this method some more.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the elephant,
And, happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the elephant
Is nothing but a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And, happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the elephant
Is very like a tree."

The Fifth who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these man of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an elephant
Not one of them has seen!

John Godfrey Saxe