Before you even begin to plan out your own research project, let’s talk about the general reBefore you even begin to plan out your own research project, let’s talk about the general research process and how you will follow certain steps in order to build your project. Traditionally, the research process consists of:
Identifying a problem, need, observation, or idea that will help you conceptualize your research question;
Conducting a literature reviewLiterature ReviewThe process of summarizing, synthesizing and/or critiquing literature around a specific topic/idea. This work can help a researcher understand what has happened before and also how past research intersects and or diverges from other research. A literature review can be a full-length manuscript or a subsection within a larger research article. in order to take stock of what research has and has not already been done related to your research question;
Determining which methods and techniques you will use to collect and analyze your data or the substantive information on which your research is being based;
Conducting your research by gathering the information and data you’ve determined will help you answer your research question; and
Writing your findingsResultsThe section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” and recommendations based on your research that you will then disseminate to a scholarly output.
Let’s break these steps down further.
The Research Question
The formulation of your research question is your first starting point for preparing your research project. Course 1 provides several reflection activities and prompts to help you determine what research you most want to pursue — consider going back to fill those out if you haven’t already. Your question can essentially be reduced to three main types — what, why, and how. In general, “what” questions inquire about descriptions, “why” questions seek explanations or understanding, and “how” questions are concerned with interventions to bring about change. Your research question will then indicate to you what kind of data or information will be necessary to answer it. In this stage, you can determine what you want to accomplish with your question — whether that’s finding solutions to a problem, providing recommendations for a process, critiquing theoretical concepts, or more freely exploring possibilities in relation to the status quo or the future of a topic in the field. It can be very helpful to review research articles in your interest area and begin to identify the research question used to guide their research.
The Literature Review
The goal of a literature review is to explore and gather scholarly work to identify gaps in previously conducted research and provide justification for conducting new research. Your literature review can be an exploratory, meant to discover the conceptual development of a topic or technique. The trends, patterns, or gaps identified from the review may be presented in a thematic, theoretical, or chronological way. What you find in your literature review can often help put your research question into a clearer perspective or direction.
Methods
The type of data or information you will use to answer your research question determines your method. The most commonly used methods in LISLibrary and Information ScienceAn interdisciplinary field that examines how physical and digital information is organized, accessed, collected, managed, disseminated and used, particularly in library settings. research are quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, so we’ll briefly describe them:
Quantitative data is represented numerically — anything that can be counted, measured, or given a numerical value. Quantitative researchQuantitative researchResearch that collects and analyzes numerical data in order to test a hypothesis, discover correlations, or describe characteristics.
is primarily concerned with testing theories and measuring the relationships between variables or the impact those variables have on outcomes of interest.
Qualitative data is usually based on the behaviors, experiences, and opinions of the representative population in relation to your research question. Observing events or individual experiences from the perspectives of those involved is used to develop theories to explain events, behavior, or phenomenon.
Mixed methods data uses both quantitative and qualitative methods, where typically one method is used to collect initial data and then another applied to gain a deeper understanding of that data.
Once you’ve determined the type of data you will need for your research, you can identify your method for collecting it.
Conducting the Research
It will feel like you’ve already done a lot of work to get to this step, but this is when you actually *do* your study! It’s often difficult to anticipate how long this step will take, but it often depends on your data collection methods and how many datapoints you think you’ll need to adequately inform your research question. For example, if you’re conducting focus groups to gather data, how many groups and how many study participants do you think you’ll need to recruit and how long will it take to facilitate the sessions? This can change depending on what initial data you start to receive, but it’s good to note what areas are more flexible or inflexible on so that you can plan accordingly.
Dissemination
After you’ve completed your study, it’s time to share it with the world! Sharing your research through different scholarly outputs can be a way for you to contribute to the LIS field, help find solutions to questions or problems your peers face, and fulfill job-related requirements and expectations.
The following table outlines some of the major scholarly outputs for disseminating or publishing your research:
Outputs
Description
Primary research article
There are various names (original research, scholarly article, peer-reviewed article, refereed article, etc.) but this is the traditional medium for most fields and plays an important role in circulating research through journals; these articles typically advance a new claim supported by original data gathered by the author(s)
Short report/letter
Often appearing in journals or trade publications, this research channel quickly summarizes or previews primary research to keep researchers aware of new trends and findings
Literature review
Reviews also go by various names, but unlike primary research, the name reflects a different methodologyMethodologyThe theoretical framework that informs how a researcher approaches their work and what methods are used to collect data. with different research purposes; common types include a literature review (generic synthesis of published materials), meta-analysis (statistical analysis of quantitative studies to provide a precise effect of the included studies’ resultsResultsThe section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” ), and systematic reviewSystematic reviewA type of scholarly work where all evidence/primary research on a certain topic or idea is identified, selected, and evaluated. Documentation is provided in order for other researchers to conduct the same search and see the same results. Often used in health science and medical disciplines and a librarian is a key contributor to this kind of scholarly collaboration. (a systematic search and synthesis of research aligned to a specific research question); the Right Review is a helpful tool aimed at assisting researchers with selecting the correct review type
Case study
A detailed description/observation of one person, place, or group within a real-world context; appears frequently in journals
Conference presentation/ proceeding
While travel and expenses can limit attendance at conferences, often organizers or presenters will share abstracts, presentation slides, or published transcriptions
Book/book chapter
Books are a common research output in every field and vary widely in content, length, quality standards, and style; books can be written by one or several authors, curated by one or several editors with chapters written by different authors, a compilation of existing works, etc.
Report
Typically reports or white papers are commissioned by government agencies or private organizations and can be used as an advocacy tool
Digital scholarship
A combination of traditional research methods with emerging technologies that typically result in a multimedia format like maps, data visualizations, and interactive elements
Popular article/interview
Sharing scholarship outside academic audiences is an important connection for researchers hoping to make real-world impacts; press releases often spark interest from reporters in popular media and can result in articles dedicated to scholarship; additionally, researchers can serve as experts in interviews on complex topics
Self-publishing/blog/social media
Researchers have also started taking their work in their own hands to share through social media platforms, blogging platforms like Medium and Substack, or through personal web publishing
Conference Poster
This is a poster shared at a conference and can be a great way to share research projects early on in the process; it can also feel less intimidating than committing to an entire presentation, so it can be great for new researchers.
Table 1. Created by Kirsten Hostetler for LibParlor Online Learning, 2023.
It’s helpful to have an idea of where you’d like to see your research being disseminated. Knowing what kind of scholarly output you’ll be using to share your knowledge helps determine who your audience will be and how you choose the format and language you use to write your findings. Additionally, each type of output requires a different level of time commitment. What kind of availability do you have right now? If you need to publish something but are short on time, for example, perhaps you want to submit a poster for a conference to report your initial findings before you can eventually dedicate the time to writing about your finished research project in a journal article or book chapter.
Next, we’ll talk about the research lifecycle and how your research plays a larger role in the scholarly environment.
The Research Process
Before you even begin to plan out your own research project, let’s talk about the general reBefore you even begin to plan out your own research project, let’s talk about the general research process and how you will follow certain steps in order to build your project. Traditionally, the research process consists of:
Let’s break these steps down further.
The Research Question
The formulation of your research question is your first starting point for preparing your research project. Course 1 provides several reflection activities and prompts to help you determine what research you most want to pursue — consider going back to fill those out if you haven’t already. Your question can essentially be reduced to three main types — what, why, and how. In general, “what” questions inquire about descriptions, “why” questions seek explanations or understanding, and “how” questions are concerned with interventions to bring about change. Your research question will then indicate to you what kind of data or information will be necessary to answer it. In this stage, you can determine what you want to accomplish with your question — whether that’s finding solutions to a problem, providing recommendations for a process, critiquing theoretical concepts, or more freely exploring possibilities in relation to the status quo or the future of a topic in the field. It can be very helpful to review research articles in your interest area and begin to identify the research question used to guide their research.
The Literature Review
The goal of a literature review is to explore and gather scholarly work to identify gaps in previously conducted research and provide justification for conducting new research. Your literature review can be an exploratory, meant to discover the conceptual development of a topic or technique. The trends, patterns, or gaps identified from the review may be presented in a thematic, theoretical, or chronological way. What you find in your literature review can often help put your research question into a clearer perspective or direction.
Methods
The type of data or information you will use to answer your research question determines your method. The most commonly used methods in LISLibrary and Information Science An interdisciplinary field that examines how physical and digital information is organized, accessed, collected, managed, disseminated and used, particularly in library settings. research are quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods, so we’ll briefly describe them:
Once you’ve determined the type of data you will need for your research, you can identify your method for collecting it.
Conducting the Research
It will feel like you’ve already done a lot of work to get to this step, but this is when you actually *do* your study! It’s often difficult to anticipate how long this step will take, but it often depends on your data collection methods and how many datapoints you think you’ll need to adequately inform your research question. For example, if you’re conducting focus groups to gather data, how many groups and how many study participants do you think you’ll need to recruit and how long will it take to facilitate the sessions? This can change depending on what initial data you start to receive, but it’s good to note what areas are more flexible or inflexible on so that you can plan accordingly.
Dissemination
After you’ve completed your study, it’s time to share it with the world! Sharing your research through different scholarly outputs can be a way for you to contribute to the LIS field, help find solutions to questions or problems your peers face, and fulfill job-related requirements and expectations.
The following table outlines some of the major scholarly outputs for disseminating or publishing your research:
It’s helpful to have an idea of where you’d like to see your research being disseminated. Knowing what kind of scholarly output you’ll be using to share your knowledge helps determine who your audience will be and how you choose the format and language you use to write your findings. Additionally, each type of output requires a different level of time commitment. What kind of availability do you have right now? If you need to publish something but are short on time, for example, perhaps you want to submit a poster for a conference to report your initial findings before you can eventually dedicate the time to writing about your finished research project in a journal article or book chapter.
Next, we’ll talk about the research lifecycle and how your research plays a larger role in the scholarly environment.
Topic 1 References
Booth, A. (2006). Clear and Present Questions: Formulating Questions for Evidence Based Practice. Library Hi-Tech, 24(3), 355–368. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/07378830610692127/full/html
Hostetler, Kirsten. “Library and Information Science as a Discipline.” LibParlor Online Learning. 2023.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Dust Tracks on a Road. 1942. New York: First Harper Perennial edition, 1991.
Ilori, Olufemi Olubunmi and Ayotola Olubunmi Onanuga,, “Research Design in Library and Information Science.” Library Philosophy and Practice. 7244.
Powell, R. R., and Connaway, L. S. Basic Research Methods for Librarians (4th ed.). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004