Customer Reviews

Basic Research Methods for Librarians (Library and Information Science Text Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The only reason you are reading this probably because it is a required text for your class. For this, I am sorry. This is a terrible text. The authors seem to have some sort of inferiority complex. They compensate for this by making the text unnecessarily complex and opaque. I thought that my difficulty was because of my background, B.A. History. I asked my wife to help me (she used to teach Quantitative Research for Communication majors). She intended to use the Powell Connaway text (this book) but after a few hours she put the book down and got one of her texts (Investigating Communication -Frey, Botan, and Kreps 2000). This text made sense. It is written clearly with a sense of humor. It includes cartoons (Powell and Connaway would be appalled). It is clear from reading the Powell and Connaway text that they have done a lot of reading (you can guarantee an average of two references/paragraph). They would do well to read the text mentioned above.

Powell and Connaway complain that more librarians aren't doing serious, quantitative, research ("According to Shera, Beals once categorized library literature into the tripartite classifications of Glad Tidings, Testimony, and Research, and noted that there was little of the last." p.3). I would argue that this shortage is precisely because of the way quantitative research is presented in books like theirs.

If you are serious about learning how to conduct quantitative research, find another book. This one is awful.

This book is an essential part of any librarians' tool kit - especially if you want to get published. All the elements of research are included - from planning the proposal to writing the report. Practical information such as data collection, historical resources, and the advantages and disadvantages of survey design are also included. Recommended for professionals and graduate students.

I used this book for a course in library research and found it clear, helpful, and detailed. I was very satisfied with the text and relied on it for developing a solid research proposal.

This book provides a solid overview for research methods for the library and information science fields. The book covers such topics as: developing a research study, selecting a research method, picking the best sampling method, various types of research, data analysis, and styles/outlines to follow when writing research proposals and reports. A rather dry read, but full of good information useful for information professionals. I read it for a class in which I had to write a research grant proposal, and found the book to be very helpful for the semester long assignment.

Okay before I go out and buy or rent my books for the semester I look around and find the cheapest price for the best condition. I got really lucky with this purchase. Not only was it 1/3 of the cost from other websites and the school but even though it is "used," it's still a great buy. Yes it has underlines and such but hey, what do you expect from a used textbook? Plus those underlines point me in the direction of important topics, ideas, ect. and the extra notes along the side I have found to be helpful. So despite it being used and having pencil marks, it was still one of the best buys I got for this semester.

Required for Grad class but would purchase even if it was not because it contains a lot of helpful information!

I used this in library school, and it is in my bookshelf at work, now. Given the lack of experience among my colleagues in conducting research, this book provides solid methods and concepts to future evalution and other research projects.

Of course this book is required. . .which is why I got it in the first place. But does it have to be so poorly written. I have already taken and passed a course on research methods for a previous master's degree. But I needed a review as it had been over a decade. This book is not a review. It is poorly written and assumes a level of knowledge that is beyond most social scientists. For example, chapter 2 discusses the concept of validity for several pages but the authors have not talked about bias versus noise. Somehow I am supposed to know this already yet we are near the beginning of the book. Any professor looking at this book . . .please look elsewhere.

Very helpful source of basic information on methods for researching reference questions - recommended for anyone working in a library.