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Small Data Assessment and Action Research

Making it Count: Opportunities and Challenges for Library Assessment

lauc-b 2013, Berkeley

April Cunningham,

Palomar College

Stephanie Rosenblatt,

Cerritos College

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Learning OutcomesI. Articulate questions about your practice and collaborate with peers to generate ideas for investigating these questions

II. Practice using various methods and tools for data collection and analysis.

III. Understand the concept of action research

Learning Outcomes

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Action Research Cycle

Plan

Act

Reflect

Share

Types of Action Research

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Action Research is…5

Informed by concerns about practice/praxisConducted and often initiated by the

librarian(s)impacted as their expertise is valued

CollaborativeCritical, deliberative, and self-reflexiveInstigated with the goal of changing

practices, processes, policies, theories, or systems

Applicable to the local context

Planning to Plan

Check to see if Action Research is really what you want to do (maybe a less critical form of practitioner research would be better)

Is one of your goals to find out if the consequences of your actions measure up to the professional principles and values that motivate your work?

Task: Clarifying Your Question7

• Take a moment to think about your own work. What’s problematic?

• Generate one or two questions you’d like to investigate.

• Talk to a partner in your group. Do you share any questions/problems in common?

Animating Your Plan

What is the situation right now? How can I find out? This is the reconnaissance phase. You will identify your key issues

Make some notes about Data on page 2 of your handout.

Decide How You’ll Do These Things

Keep a journal or other form of notes This helps you see where you’ve been This gives you a place to recognize and set aside your

assumptionsKeep big questions in mind even while you’re

working from day-to-dayCope with inevitable interruptions and

competing prioritiesIdentify sources of help with data analysisFind critical friends

ACT10

• Collect data

• Analyze data

• Continue to talk to collaborators or friends about your findings to get different perspectives on your process/methods and what you’re discovering

Act

Action Steps… What changes can I make?Your analysis of the initial evidence has helped you identify key issues. Now what can you do about them?

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Data Collection Tools:

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Data Analysis Tools:

Google Forms Tableau Public Excel Rubrics LIWC Word text.stat

Google Forms14

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https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QYYKMCZUn-BM2qvPGaT6TsZx4jLwf9-neW0pA0bADoo/viewanalytics

Tableau Public17

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Microsoft Excel19

Descriptive statistics Inferential statistics

Describing the numerical data you have by organizing, graphing, or tabulating.

Using the sample you have to make inferences or hypotheses about a larger population.

Types of Statistics20

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Nominal

Ordinal

IntervalRatio

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Microsoft Excel

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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100M

ore

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1

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Pretest Results

Frequency

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100M

ore

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2

4

6

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Posttest Results

Frequency

Rubrics26

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Microsoft Word28

HTTP: / /WWW.LIWC.NET/TRYONLINE.PHP

Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC)

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HTTP: / /TEXTSTAT.SOFTWARE.INFORMER.COM/

Text Stat34

Reflect on Your Results

Evaluate the effects of the changes you made

What worked and what failed? How well did it work or how much did it fail? Why did some things work and some things

fail?

Reflect on Your Perspective

Here’s how your perspective could evolve

Preliminary Question: What’s the difference in the types of sources students are using when they come to one of my library orientations and when they don’t?

New Questions: What should the librarian’s role be in advising faculty and students about resource-based learning? What is a reasonable expectation for student learning following a single library orientation? When do students learn how to incorporate sources into their papers?

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Action Research Cycle

Plan

Act

Reflect

Share

Share68

Findings

How?

Where?

Who?

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APRIL CUNNINGHAMACUNNINGHAM@PALOMAR.EDU

STEPHANIE ROSENBLATTSROSENBLATT@CERRITOS.EDU

Thank You