Approximately two and a half weeks left of grad school. Fueling up while reading about disseminating research.
“The MAS [Master of Archival Studies at the University of British Columbia] program is designed to nurture a distinctive disciplinary and professional identity while fostering alliances with other disciplines, partnerships with other departments and faculties at home and in other universities worldwide, and collaboration with other professions. The prestige it has acquired over the years has proven the validity of such an approach.”
“As a matter of fact, ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallace test are both for situations where groups being compared are not related, the more commonly encountered situation. If the groups are related, then we should use repeated measure ANOVA instead of the ordinary ANOVA discussed in this book, and the Friedman test instead of the Kruskal-Wallis test. These tests are not usually covered in basic statistics books.”
“Many research questions are oriented to discovering whether there is a relationship between two variables and, if there is, how strong that relationship is. Even more to the point, the question is likely to be focused on whether one variable, in some sense, causes the other. Although the statistical methods of correlation cannot directly address this later question, they can provide evidence of a relationship between two variables.”
“. . . no matter what statistical decisions we make about the null hypothesis, there is always a chance of error. This is understandable because we never know the absolute truth of the population-if we knew, there would be no need to do a statistical test. All we are doing in inferential statistics is to estimate the population based on a sample by employing knowledge of probability theory.”
“The use of evidence gathered directly from preexisting documents or artifacts can greatly strengthen a study. In an appropriate sample can be gathered, this nonreactive approach to data collection can allow the researcher to see some aspects of a situation that could not be detected through more intrusive data collection methods such as interviews or questionnaires.”
“Focus groups can be a good choice for data collection if you believe that value will be obtained in the participants‘ interactions with each other, rather than through individuals responding to questions from you, the researcher. As several of the authors cited in this chapter have argued, people form their opinions in a social/group setting. Focus groups are not an ideal data collection method for every situation . . .”
Recently I started volunteering one day a week at the history center for my county, hoping to glean some experience in archiving work. My goal, besides helping out, is to see if I like it enough to pursue a degree in library or archival science. So far, it‘s amazing and right up my alley! Anyways, this book is coming in handy as I begin indexing the history center newsletter for easy searching. Any Litsy archivists out there? #archives #history
Back to the grind - grilled cheese and cafe au lait for lunch while I do some reading for grad school (on surveys)
“Although some progress has been made, there is evidence in the literature that there is a long road ahead of us as a profession. However, the focus on educating the next generation of LIS professionals is encouraging.”
