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New book unveils research techniques
Aug. 7, 2009 - Dr. Barbara M. Wildemuth, professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has published, Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science (publisher: Libraries Unlimited), a book that is described as a “first of its kind for librarians.”
The book, which is written in a conversational tone, describes the process involved in conducting a research study, introducing a variety of research methods. As each method is described, the book highlights its strengths and weaknesses. Because the primary purpose of the book is to "provide and critically analyze examples of each of the methods presented," each chapter presents several examples of the use of each method in information and library science research.
"The field of information and library science is not large, so we must all contribute to the improvement of practice by conducting research and evaluation studies and publishing their results," says Wildemuth in her introduction. "This book is intended to be useful to all who are engaging in this enterprise."
For Wildemuth's colleague, Dr. Diane Kelly, who teaches "Research Methods" at SILS, the book comes at a perfect time.
"I have been wanting to switch textbooks for a long time, but have not found anything that I like very much," said Kelly. "Barbara's book discusses all of the research methods that I am interested in teaching students, uses examples from ILS and includes references to exemplar papers from the ILS field that illustrate use of the different methods."
Kelly also believes the book can be used as a reference by students in their future work.
"Increasingly, ILS professionals are expected to be able to conduct analysis, assessment and evaluation of tools and services - "Research Methods" is about equipping students to do this and Barbara's book lends itself to being referred to later, once students are out on the job and have a need to 'remember' and apply what they learned in class."
There are at least a dozen contributing authors, all of whom developed their contributions while in the doctoral program at SILS. They include: Leo L. Cao, Songphan Choemprayong, Abe. J. Crystal (now chief research and strategy officer at MoreBetterLabs, Inc.), Carolyn Hank, Lili Luo (now an assistant professor at San Jose State University), Chad Morgan, Sanghee Oh, Carol L. Perryman (now an instructor at Texas Woman's University), Laura Sheble, Kristina M. Spurgin, Mary Wilkins Jordan (now an assistant professor at Simmons College) and Yan Zhang (now an instructor at the University of Texas, Austin).
Proceeds of the book will go toward doctoral research at SILS. The book is now available online at amazon.com
Applications of Social Research Methods to Questions in Information and Library Science, Barbara M. Wildemuth. Copyright (c) 2009 by Libraries Unlimited. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA.