Session 1: Course Overview; Introduction to Evaluation of Information Services; Purpose of Evaluation Research

• Course Web Resource Section
• ALA Guidelines for Information Services
• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 1

Distributed: Group Presentation Project

Session 2: Types of Research; Planning Evaluation; Problem Statement; Research Ethics

• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 (“Ethics of Research” & “Scientific and Research Misconduct” sections only)
• Matthews, Chapter 1
• Hernon, P., and Schwartz, C. (2007). What is a problem statement? Library and Information Science Research, 29(3), 307-309. (Available on course Moodle site)
• Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, (1994). The Program Evaluation Standards.
• Simmons IRB.

Distributed: Assignment 1

Session 3: Evaluation Models and Research Components; The Research Proposal

Julie Goldman, Harvard Research Data Services Librarian, presents Research Data Management MOOC (1:10-1:30)
Tour of Simmons Usability Lab (1:20-1:50pm)

• Hernon, P. (2001). Components of the research process: where do we need to focus attention? Journal of Academic Librarianship 27(2), 81-89.
• Mattews, Chapter 2
• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 13
• Rubin, J. & Chisnell, D. (2008). Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests (2nd ed). Chapter 1 “What makes something usable?” (Access online version)

Distributed: Term Project; Extra-Credit Usability Project

Group formation for the Group Presentation and Lead Discussion Project

Session 4: Evaluating Research Papers; Literature Review

Jon Kimball, Director of Simmons Sponsored Program, speaks on conducting research at Simmons

• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 2 (re-read “literature review of related research” Section)
• Evaluating Research Guidelines excerpted from Pyrczak, F. (2005). Evaluating Research in Academic Journals (Available on the course Moodle site)

Distributed: Assignment 2

Due: Assignment 1

No class: Indigenous Peoples Day — College Closed

Session 5: Measurement and Operationalization

Vivienne Piroli (Simmons College Library) and G. Karen Merguerian (Northeastern University Library) talk about assessment library services (1:00-1:50pm)

• Connaway & Radford, Chapters 3 (Skip the “Ethics of Research” & “Scientific and Research Misconduct” sections)
• Matthews, Chapter 3

Team Formation for the Term Project

Session 6: Population and Sampling; Evaluation Designs and Quantitative Tools

• Connaway & Radford, Chapters 4 (“Sampling” Section only), Chapter 5
• Matthews, Chapter 5 (Skip P.62-73)

Session 7: Survey Research Questionnaire Development and Interview Protocols

No face-to-face session; Session lectures video recording available via moodle; Instructor attends ASIST Annual Meeting

• Connaway & Radford, Chapters 4 (Skip the “Sampling” Section), Chapter 8
• Matthews, P. 62-73; 51-52
• Miller, T. I. (1994). “Designing and Conducting Surveys,” in Wholey, et al. (eds). pp. 271-292 (Available on the Moodle Course site)
• Frary, R. A brief guide to questionnaire development. (Avaiable on the Moodle Course site)

Distributed: Assignment 3

Due: Assignment 2

Session 8: Qualitative Evaluation Methods

• Connaway & Radford, Chapters 7, 9, 10
• Matthews, Chapter 4 (skip p. 50-52)
• Creswell, (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design. Chapter 4: Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry. (Available on the Moodle Course site)

Session 9: Group Presentation on Evaluation of Library Services

Assignment 3 Questionnaire In-Class Pilot Test (1:00-1:50pm)

• Matthews, Chapters 7, 9, 13, 14

Session 10: Historical Research; Action Research; Diary Method

• Connaway & Radford, Chapters 11-12

Due: Assignment 3

Session 11: Data Analysis and Descriptive Statistics

• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 6
• Matthews, Chapter 6 (p.79-91)
• Leedy & Ormord, Chapter 11 (p.245-267). (Available on the Moodle Course Site)
• Samuel, J. (2003). Getting started with SPSS for Windows. Indiana University (Available on the Moodle Course Site)

Session takes place in the Computer Lab (P214)

Session 12: Inferential Statistics; Writing and Presenting Research

• Connaway & Radford, Chapter 14
• Matthews, Chapter 6 (p. 92-94), Scan Part IV, Evaluation of Library
• Leedy & Ormord, Chapter 11 (p.267-281). (Available on the Moodle Course Site)
• Hendricks, M. (1994). “Making a Splash: Reporting Evaluation Results Effectively,” in Wholey, et al. (eds)., pp. 549-575. (Available on the Moodle Course site)

Session takes place in the Computer Lab (P214)

Session 13: Evaluation Proposal Term Project Presentation

Due: Written Evaluation Research Proposal