Research Methods in Information, Second Edition

Fully updated for today's research environments, the long-awaited second edition of Alison Jane Pickard's best-selling handbookincludes brand new coverage of online research methods and techniques, mixed methodology and qualitative analysis. The first primer to focus entirely on the needs of the information and communications community, it guides would-be researchers through the variety of possibilities open to them under the heading "research" and provides students with the confidence to embark on their dissertations. While Pickard summarizes the philosophy and theory of research to provide context, she focuses squarely on a practical exploration of the research process, offering examples and exercises tried and tested over a whole teaching career. This book takes readers through each aspect of the research process, including

• The major research paradigms
• Reviewing the literature
• Defining the research
• The research proposal
• Sampling
• Research ethics
• Methods, including case studies, surveys, experimental research, ethnography, Delphi study, action research, historical research and grounded theory
• Research data management, examined in a new chapter contributed by Professor Julie McLeod, Sue Childs and Elizabeth Loma, which applies evidence from the recent JISC-funded "DATUM" project
• Collection techniques, including interviews, questionnaires, observation, diaries, focus groups, usability testing, qualitative and quantitative data analysis
• Software for analysis
• Virtual research
• Presenting the research