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Research Made Accessible
1st Edition - November 1, 2017
Author: Michelle Dunaway
Paperback ISBN:9780081018903
9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 1 0 1 8 9 0 - 3
eBook ISBN:9780081018910
9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 1 0 1 8 9 1 - 0
Research Made Accessible highlights the role that information literacy educators have in teaching scientific literacy skills at the postsecondary level, providing clear methods… Read more
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Research Made Accessible highlights the role that information literacy educators have in teaching scientific literacy skills at the postsecondary level, providing clear methods for doing so. In addition, the book attempts to start a conversation within the field of library and information science about the need for scientific literacy, both for students and for an informed citizenry.
Despite the existence of numerous books that provide practical guidance to library and information professionals seeking to understand and engage in academic research, there is evidence to suggest that research may continue to be a topic where librarians struggle. One possible explanation for this is the lack of books and information sources that provide novice-level guidance for the reading and evaluation of research published in academic journals. This book seeks to fill that gap with the information librarians need to build bridges to their users.
Presents academic librarians with the conceptual parts that situate scientific literacy as part of information literacy
Provides practitioners with exercises that use examples and explanations to illustrate the process of evaluating research articles
Helps librarians fill gaps with tactics that will build bridges to their users
Information practitioners teaching information literacy, Students, Researchers, Library professionals, academic librarians
Part I: Evidence supporting the need for specific focus on scientific literacy (or, more specifically, "research literacy")
Introduction: Define data literacy and scientific literacy, and provide evidence that these are emerging and increasingly significant issues in K-12 and postsecondary education. Make connection between data literacy & science literacy, and scholarly communication, i.e., articles published in peer reviewed journals. (Thesis: Effectively using scholarly literature requires specific skills; this skill set is arguably a combination of data literacy and science literacy.)
Provide and discuss evidence of the idea that neither data literacy nor scientific literacy have been specifically addressed either in library and information science literature or in standards and conceptualizations of information literacy (e.g. ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000); ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (2015)). Thus, scientific literacy represents an opportunity to make information literacy education even more meaningful and valuable.
Provide evidence to establish that although finding and citing scholarly/peer reviewed publications are a central focus of information literacy instruction at colleges and universities, students struggle to engage with and effectively use these sources, which tend to use unfamiliar, complex vocabulary and often seem to require extensive background knowledge. For a variety of reasons, information literacy instruction in academic libraries tends to focus on teaching students relatively elementary concepts, such as what a "scholarly" source is, what "peer reviewed" means, etc. Little attention has been paid to whether or not students are able to engage with academic and scientific research articles, beyond locating them, cursorily evaluating their credibility, and citing them.
Argue that the need to recognize the role of science and research in everyday life (outside of the context of school) and to make decisions related to science confronts students on a daily basis. Provide relevant examples and scenarios to illustrate this point: For example, many readers will identify with scenarios wherein they encounter diverging viewpoints regarding the legitimacy of, for example, climate change, or the benefits of various foods or supplements, or gender differences in achievement. These scenarios make clear that the need for scientific literacy reaches far beyond the need to be able to locate peer reviewed articles to use in order to meet the requirements of writing assignments. Teaching these skills to students will empower students to be more successful in school-related uses of academic and scientific research articles, and will contribute to increased information literacy in their lives outside of school.
Teaching students how to use scientific and scholarly sources requires a commitment to understanding the substance of published research. Academic librarians have eagerly engaged in discussion of the scholarly communication process (e.g., the current system used for communicating the results of academic and scientific research); however, less attention has been paid to developing skills for comprehending, evaluating, and using scientific articles. Cultivation of these skills will be greatly beneficial both to librarians who teach information literacy, and to those who seek to advance the field of library and information science. Provide evidence for the idea that in general, research (systematic inquiry leading to the development of new knowledge) receives relatively low status within the library and information science profession; argue that understanding research is an essential first step towards enriching both information literacy education and professional practice.
Part II: Putting it into practice
What are peer reviewed articles made of? Scholarly literature reflects many different types of research. The kind of research done, as well as the methods used, depend upon the field of study within which a researcher is working. Various methods are useful for different purposes. however, to effectively use these materials, it is essential to understand different types of research and be able to identify (a) what kind of research a given article involves; (b) able to distill the study’s findings; (c) examine the methodology; and (d) understand the strengths and limitations of the method(s) used. This section aims to provide information about numerous types of research methods that will allow a reader of a scholarly journal article to effectively evaluate such an article, even without extensive background knowledge of the topic of the article. Because the focus here is on reading scientific literature, rather than engaging in research, the approaches and methods in the following sections are described in terms of how to recognize and critique such works, rather than how to carry them out as a researcher.
Understanding Methods
Types of general approaches:
Qualitative
Quantitative
Mixed methods approaches
Specific research methods: For each, provide example, provide definition and overview, discuss benefits and limitations, discuss indicators that will be present in quality articles, and provide citations of published studies that can serve as accessible examples.
Quantitative methods
Experiments
Surveys
Meta-analyses
Qualitative methods
Observation
Interviews
Analysis of documents
Identifying publications that, although present in some peer reviewed journals, do not describe actual research
Anecdotal accounts
Theoretical papers
Commentary on social issues without clearly defining a problem, discussing a method for investigating the problem, or producing evidence of the phenomena in question
Evaluating Research: Strategies. This section will provide concise guidelines for evaluating the main components of scientific research articles: the introduction, the methodology, the results or findings, and the discussion (the conclusions drawn). Approaches and methods must be discussed separately; for example, there are different guidelines for evaluating the sampling involved in a survey study versus the sampling strategy used in a qualitative study. Statistical literacy—the ability to understand the information presented in results sections of quantitative studies—will be discussed.
Evaluating Research: Practice. This section will consist of exercises that allow the reader to put the information in the previous sections into practice. Using examples of various scenarios that require the use of scientific materials, and drawing upon the information presented in section 7 and section 8, readers will examine sample articles and engage in a step-by-step evaluation of methods, findings, and conclusions. This process will be geared towards readers who do not possess extensive background knowledge in the subject area on which the sample article is written, making these exercises useful both for librarians who seek to impart these skills to students, and librarians who are motivated to improve their own science literacy. An answer key will be provided. The focus will be on examples of research that could be encountered in various contexts (searching for sources for a paper for school, reading an article in a newspaper or popular magazine, searching for information about health related topics, personal curiosity, and others).
(Tentative) Mapping Research Evaluation Skills to the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education: Evaluating and engaging with research published in academic journals is a potentially very fruitful path towards facilitating students’ achievement of the threshold concepts that form the core of the recently adopted Framework (http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework). However, the use of the Framework is likely limited to academic libraries located in the United States; therefore, it is unclear whether a section focusing on the Framework would be appropriate in this publication.
No. of pages: 200
Language: English
Edition: 1
Published: November 1, 2017
Imprint: Chandos Publishing
Paperback ISBN: 9780081018903
eBook ISBN: 9780081018910
MD
Michelle Dunaway
As an academic librarian, Dunaway’s work has focused on information literacy instruction with particular emphasis on practical methods for making information literacy instruction more effective. Since 2011, Dunaway has served on the editorial board of a library and information science journal that focuses on the use of research and evidence in library and information practice.
Affiliations and expertise
Education Evaluation and Research (Quantitative Methods), Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA