Syllabus

A PDF of the course syllabus is available here.

LIS-S506-Martin.pdf

Course Focus

This course is intended to be an introduction to research methods. We will cover a great deal of material and discuss everything from ethics and the philosophies that underlie different modalities of research to the mechanisms through which data is collected, analyzed, and results or findings reported. 

It is important to understand the ways that beliefs about world-at-large (ontology/worldview) and ways of knowing (epistemology) shape the data collection and analysis methods that we can use to investigate the world and construct new knowledge. A significant portion of our discussions and your writing for this class will be concerned with these connections. 

Course Structure

This is a 7-module online course conducted over the the regular 16-week semester. During each module, you will be responsible for:

1. Reading the assigned literature for each module (posted in the discussion for each week);
2. Participating in the weekly discussions related to the module;
3. Completing a quiz for each module;
4. Any  assignments or activities listed in each module. 

Participation in the discussions is the primary way for me, your instructor, to see that you are engaging with the assigned reading material. I will list readings and pose several questions or topics on the discussion for each module we'll see where this takes us. Discussions will be relatively free-form. I will also post some notes as an announcement as we begin each module.

Tasks associated with each module will have due dates generally associated with the week when I would like us to be discussing and thinking about a certain topic. You are welcome to work ahead, but be advised that it is a good idea to keep in sync with rest of the class, as our discussions will help you complete the assignments.

Quizzes are not graded except as completed/not-completed. It is meant to be a low-stakes mechanism for helping you to remember and synthesize material. Quizzes will typically be available toward the end of the week associated with each module.