INF397C – Introduction to Research in Information Studies
Syllabus
Unique Number:
28220
Semester:
Fall, 2009
Professor:
Randolph G. Bias, Ph.D., CHFP
(w) 471-7046
(c) 657-3924
(h) 836-0845
rbias@ischool.utexas.edu
Office:
UTA 5.424
Office Hours:
Mondays, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
And by appointment.
Class Time:
Wednesday, 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Classroom:
UTA 1.208
TA:
Garrett Stettler
gstett@ischool.utexas.edu
(512) 470-0818
Web site:
http://courses.ischool.utexas.edu/rbias/2009/Fall/INF397C/
Textbooks:
* Shaughnessy, J. J., Zechmeister, E. B., and Zechmeister, J. S.
(2006). Research methods in psychology Seventh Edition. Boston:
McGraw-Hill.
* Hinton, P. R. (2004). Statistics explained, 2nd Edition. London:
Routledge.
** Huff (1993). How to lie with statistics. New York: W. W.
Norton and Company.
*** Dethier, V. G. (1989). To know a fly. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
* Ordered by the Co-op.
** NOT ordered by the Co-op. Easily found on Amazon or
elsewhere.
***This book is out of print. Several copies are on two-hour reserve
in the ISchool Lab.
INF397C, Fall 2009
1
Additional Reading (on reserve in the ISchool IT Lab):
- Best, J. (2001). Thinking about social statistics: The critical approach. In Damned lies
and statistics: Untangling numbers from the media, politicians, and activists (pp. 160-171).
Berkeley, CA: University of California.
- Cronin, B. (1992). When is a problem a research problem? In Leigh Stweart Estabrook
(Ed.), Applying research to practice: How to use data collection and research to improve
library management decision making (pp. 117-132). Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of
Illinois, Graduate School of Library and Information Science.
- Gorman, G. E., et al. (1997). "The nature of qualitative research,"
Qualitative research for the information professional: A practical handbook.
London: Library Association, 21-37.
- Gorman, G. E., et al. (1997). "Qualitative research design in information
organizations," Qualitative research for the information professional: A
practical handbook. London: Library Association, 38-49.
- Harris, M. H. (1986). The dialectic of defeat: Antinomies in research in Library and
Information Science. In Donald G. Davis & Phyllis Dain (Eds.), History of library and
information science education [ Special issue] (pp. 515-531). Library Trends, 34(3).
- MacCoun, R. J. (1998). Biases in the interpretation and use of research results. Annual
Review of Psychology, 49:259-87.
Synopsis:
Every day you make decisions. You decide to take IH-35, rather than MoPac, to drive to
school, because you think it will provide you a quicker, safer, and/or happier trip. You base
this decision on some data you have collected from your previous experience, or from
information people have told you, or from information gleaned from a map, or from radio
and TV reports. Or maybe you just have a feeling.
During that drive to school, and likely before, and certainly after, you will hear or read many,
many claims.
- “Crest makes your teeth brighter.”
- “Our candidate will improve Austin traffic.”
- “Taking this course will help you be a better information scientist.”
- “I like you.”
- “This is a better way to design your web site.”
The citizen who understands experimental design and statistics is better prepared to make
decisions and evaluate claims of all sorts.
In one of the required textbooks for this course, the author Vincent Dethier asserts that,
“An experiment is [personkind’s] way of asking Nature a question.” As an information
scientist, you may wish to ask Nature a question (e.g., “Will this intranet user interface enable
INF397C, Fall 2009
2
all our users to carry out their tasks”?). You will CERTAINLY read many, many answers
other information scientists have inferred from questions they have asked of Nature.
The focus of this course will be on behavioral science – the design of experiments that
enable us to acquire new information about human behavior. We will address qualitative
research methods, historical research, and other forms of research, to place quantitative
research in context. But the focus will be unmistakably on quantitative research. In the
arena of experimental design we’ll cover sampling, the control of variables, the choice of
within- and between-subject designs, experimental vs. field study, and this will lead us into
statistics as we consider hypothesis testing. In the arena of statistics we’ll cover probability,
descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, correlation) and
inferential statistics including tests of statistical significance.
Unprepared information scientists – indeed, unprepared citizens – are forced to consider the
torrent of claims they hear every day, and either accept or reject them based on faith.
Prepared scientists/citizens can, instead, consider the methods used to gain the information
on which the claims are made, and evaluate for themselves the likely goodness of the claims.
Expect a course with a bias (heh heh) towards quantitative research, but flavored by an
awareness that there are various ways to conduct research. Expect two tests where you have
a chance to demonstrate that you understand the basics of experimental design and statistics,
and know WHY one experiment is better than another, to answer a particular question.
Expect some lecture, some discussion, and some hands-on designing of some research.
Expect to be surprised how interesting (and painless) this stuff can be, regardless of how
math phobic you may be. Expect to know how many socks you need to pull out of your
sock drawer, in the dark, to be assured of having a pair of the same color. Expect to come
out of the course being able to evaluate whether a piece of research you read about was well
conducted and appropriate.
Objectives:
This class is designed to arm you with a scientist’s skepticism, and a scientist’s tools to
conduct research and evaluate others’ research. The student who successfully completes this
course will understand:
1 – descriptive statistics, and how to represent a collection of numbers
2 – experimental design (and how to evaluate how good other designs are)
3 – inferential statistics and hypothesis testing
4 – other techniques human beings use to gain new information, such as qualitative
methods.
Instructional Techniques:
The course will entail various instructional techniques:
1 – lecture
2 – demonstration
3 – group exercise
4 – self-instruction, and question-answering by the professor
5 – attention to the real world.
INF397C, Fall 2009
3
Expectations:
- Calculator. You’ll need one, but just the simplest of ones.
- Math skills. You’ll need them, but just the simplest ones.
Policies:
Grades:
Your grade will be based on four things:
1. your general contribution in class (15%),
2. a two-person team project, the creation of a Methods section that captures a
good experimental design to answer a particular question (20%),
3. a mid-term exam (30%)
4. a final exam (35%).
Cheating:
Don’t. Dire consequences.
Late Assignments:
Your grade will be docked one grade per day late, for your written assignment. As for makeup exams, I will truly hate to have to create a second exam. But if you’re sick, or have some
other good excuse, please call me in advance.
Etc.:



If you have a question, please ask. I will be very receptive to emails at any
time, and phone calls before 10:00 p.m.
Attendance matters. Make sure you sign in on the attendance sheet every
day. When you aren’t here, you deprive your classmates of your shared
wisdom.
Any student with a documented disability (physical or cognitive) who
requires academic accommodations should contact the Services for Students
with Disabilities area of the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259
(voice) or 471-4641 (TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing) as soon
as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized
accommodations.
INF397C, Fall 2009
4
Schedule:
Date
W,
8/26
Day
1
W,
9/2
2
W,
9/9
3
W,
9/16
4
W,
9/23
5
INF397C, Fall 2009
Topics
Introduction, Plan,
Representing Data
Descriptive Statistics
- Introduction
- Why?
- Touching all the bases
- Once around the room
- Collecting some data
- Frequency distributions
- Representing data
- Measures of Central Tendency
Descriptive Statistics
- More “Why”?
- Some “How”?
- Frequency distributions
(revisited)
- Representing data (revisited)
- Measures of Central Tendency
(revisited)
- Measures of Spread
- z scores
More Descriptive Statistics,
and a transition into Research
Methods
- z scores (revisited?)
- Probability
- Operationalizing variables
- Hypothesis testing
- Sampling
- Independent and dependent
variables
Assignment (due BEFORE class)
Research Methods I
- Guest Lecture by Mary Lynn
Rice Lively: Qualitative
Methods
Research Methods I (cont’d.)
- Hypothesis testing (revisited)
- Controls, Confounds,
Counterbalancing
- The ethics of studying humans
- Within-, Between-subject
designs
- Reliability and validity
Have read before Day 4:
- Gorman, G. E., et al. (1997) (both
articles)
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 4, 5, 6
Have read before Day 5:
- No new readings. Catch up!!
- Come prepared to share aloud some
claim you’ve heard that you might
question.
- Have read before Day 2:
- Huff: All of it.
- Hinton: Ch. 1, 2, 3
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 1, 2, 3
- Come with a guess as to what the
most important sentence is in S, Z, &
Z, Ch. 2. (In my humble opinion.)
- Send an email to the TA by noon,
9/4/2009, with a table/graph/chart
that you’ve read this past week.
- Have read before Day 3:
- Best (2001)
- Dethier: All of it.
- Hinton: Ch. 4, 5, 6, 7
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 7, 8
- Come to class prepared to say what
the key typo is in Hinton, Ch. 6!
5
W,
9/30
6
W,
10/7
7
W,
10/14
8
W,
10/21
9
W,
10/28
W,
11/4
10
W,
11/11
12
W,
11/18
13
W,
11/26
W,
12/2
- Ceiling and floor effects
- Building a research proposal Have read before Day 6:
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 14
- Catch-up and Review
- Mid-term exam
Research Methods II
(cont’d.)
- Guest lecture by David Gracy.
Historical methods.
Research Methods II
- The qualitative/quantitative
distinction
- Which method when
- Interpreting results
- Bad science
- In-class exercise
Research-a-palooza surprise
Have read before Day 8:
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 10, 11
- Cronin (1992)
- McCoun (1998)
Have read before Day 9:
- Hinton: Ch. 8, 9
Inferential Statistics
- standard error of the mean
- confidence intervals
- t tests
- statistical significance
Inferential Statistics (cont’d.)
- Chi-square
- Correlation
- Conducting an experiment and
a t-test
Inferential Statistics (cont’d.)
- ANOVA
Have read before Day 11:
- S, Z, & Z: Ch. 12, 13
14
Catch-up and Review
Methods section project report due
15
Final exam
11
Have read before Day 12:
- Hinton: Ch. 20
Have read before Day 13:
- Hinton: Ch. 10 – 15
“Methods Section” project:
Come up with a research question that intrigues you both. Assume you have one semester
and $25,000 to answer the question, empirically.
Write the "Methods" section of the research report. Specify what your research question is.
Demonstrate that you know what independent and dependent variables are. Demonstrate
that you know how to affect controls and counterbalancing, and how to avoid confounds.
INF397C, Fall 2009
6
Specify what statistics you'll perform on your data. Design an experiment that, if you really
did have that time and that money, and did carry it out, you would likely have gotten an
answer, from "Nature."
S, Z, & Z (2006) offers a good model, starting on page 515.
Anticipating some questions:
1- Length? I don't know. Maybe three to six pages. The example on pages 515 of S, Z, & Z
is about four pages long, double-spaced.
2- Question? Pick something that interests you. No, it doesn't have to be one that we've
talked about in class. If you wish, you can send me your research question, and I'll tell you if
I think it sounds like a good one.
3- Objective? Think of this as your first (?) experimental write-up. You get to have fun
imagining the research, without actually carrying out the work. Design an EXPERIMENT.
Show me that you know what independent variables and dependent variables are. Show me
that you know how to sample, to assign test participants, to avoid confounds. Show me you
know how to control extraneous variables. Go for it. Design a study from which you'd like
to know the results.
University of Texas Honor Code
The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom,
leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is
expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect
toward peers and community.
Documented Disability Statement
Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should
contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at (512) 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-3293986 (video phone). Faculty are not required to provide accommodations without an official
accommodation letter from SSD.

Please notify me as quickly as possible if the material being presented in class is not
accessible (e.g., instructional videos need captioning, course packets are not readable
for proper alternative text conversion, etc.).

Please notify me as early in the semester as possible if disability-related
accommodations for field trips are required. Advanced notice will permit the
arrangement of accommodations on the given day (e.g., transportation, site
accessibility, etc.).

Contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 1-866-3293986 (video phone) or reference SSD’s website for more disability-related
information: http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/for_cstudents.php
INF397C, Fall 2009
7
INF397C, Fall 2009
8