Syllabus
Annotation
For time schedule, please see the combined-study WS 2010/2011 schedule. The course is intended for 2nd year students (library major) only! The form of final exam will be discussed at the first meeting.
The aim of this seminar is to introduce various research methods that can be used in information science and librarianship. It will be focused on sociological research methods which can be used for user research in libraries of various types. We will discuss the individual research phases, methods of data gathering and evaluation, and the use of these methods in practice. As a supplement, further reserch methods for information science will be introduced, e.g. HCI research methods, bibliometrics, and usage data analysis.
The stages of sociological reseach that will be discussed will cover these following phases:
- Preliminary theoretical phase
- Pilot study
- Research methodology setup, research questions
- Preliminary research
- Respondents
- Data gathering
- Data analysis
- Research results and final report
Final exam: Practical research setup. The particular scope and extent will be specified at the first meeting.