Research Methods in Information

Citation

Turner, R. (2007), "Research Methods in Information", New Library World, Vol. 108 No. 7/8, pp. 384-386. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800710763699

The library and information professional increasingly needs to be able to conduct research, if only for the seemingly ubiquitous requirement for monitoring and evaluation. A work on research specifically aimed at the information profession has become particularly pertinent due to the demands for accountability in service delivery. While there are many books on research methods and methodology, this book focuses on the needs of the information and communications community.

Dr Pickard is a BSc course leader in Information and Communications Management, Information Science and Librarianship at the University of Northumbria, where she also teaches research methods. The work is based on the author's personal experiences of research. She aims to make her work accessible and free of the problems of confusing terminology, and primarily that it has a practical approach.

The work aims to be a reference guide to the research process for both students and practitioners. While it is certainly tailored to the information and related sectors, many of the sections are transferable. The book is particularly useful as a more precise tool used in conjunction with standard general research works such as Robson's (2000)Real World Research (although I found it rather a concern that the references in Pickard's book refer to the 1997 first edition) or Moore's (2006)How to Do Research also published by Facet.

The introduction clearly outlines Pickard's understanding of the research hierarchy: research paradigm; research methodology; research method; research technique; research instrument.

The work appropriately opens with a section “Starting the research process”. Pickard purposefully tries to avoid getting bogged down in too much philosophy and instead focuses on positivist, post‐positivism and interpretist research. Despite the aims of the work, for the non‐academic the terminology and philosophy can occasionally still be rather daunting, but the non‐student could skip this part. What should not be skipped are the lucid descriptions of qualitative and quantitative methodology, and their respective research designs, as well as establishing trustworthiness, validity, reliability and objectivity. A chapter on ethics in research is included at the end of this opening section.

The next chapter is about reviewing the literature, and this is followed by notes on defining the research after establishing the theoretical framework. This includes creating the important design of a conceptual framework, a research hypothesis, and aims and objectives for the research. While this is well structured, the non‐academic should again be warned that there are frequent references to the historical and philosophical development of research methodology.

Each chapter has a brief summary, a practical exercise and short suggested further reading lists. There is also a more comprehensive list of references at the end of the book, where there is also an adequate index to assist access to the work and a useful glossary.

After the conceptual framework has been created, this should be worked into a research proposal, which has a dedicated chapter, including the reasons for writing a proposal and its structure.

A chapter on sampling is rather oddly included in the first section rather than in the following section “Research methods”. Of course, sampling is not a method but it would be more beneficial to be alongside methods, especially as many readers will dip into the work to read up on one method, rather than reading the whole book through.

The section on research methods includes well‐written chapters on case studies, surveys, experimental research, ethnography, Delphi study, action research, historical research and grounded theory. There is a little confusion in that some of these methods are also really techniques, such as case studies, and “Data collection techniques” forms a third section of the book.

The book looks at the main techniques of gathering data, such as interviews, questionnaires, observation and focus groups. It was very heartening to see the technique of diaries meriting a whole chapter when it is often overlooked as too problematical by many researchers but, if carried out well, can yield unique and valuable information.

The final major section of the book is about the often thorny “Data analysis and research presentation”. Pickard considers qualitative analysis first, when quantitative methods are usually the first to be considered. After a consideration of qualitative and quantitative analysis, the book examines the use of software for analysis, primarily SPSS. A final section looks at presenting the research.

This book is particularly suitable for undergraduate students. It may be too simplistic for postgraduate or higher education academic staff, and for the practitioner the book does contain academic and philosophical content that may not be relevant to all readers. The title does seem to be strangely incomplete too, especially as there is no explanatory sub‐title. However, the clear structure, lucid writing, practical exercises and further reading suggestions make Research Methods in Information a useful tool for any student or practitioner working in the information and information community who is faced with a research project, either academically or as part of the accountability process in their workplace.