Graduate Research in Education
 

Cody Fullerton
Data & Social Sciences Librarian
Elizabeth Dafoe Library

What we will talk about today...

• Identifying types of research studies
• Resources available at the Libraries
• Using advanced searching in your research
• Citation management

What are scholarly journals?

1. The journal publishes current research in a particular academic field.
2. Articles are written for an academic audience in a scholarly community.

Identifying scholarly articles

1. The article presents original research or analysis that is new to the field.
2. Resources used to write the article are adequately cited with a bibliography and/or footnotes. 
3. The author has academic credentials.

What do we mean by "peer review"?

1. Articles submitted to the journal are reviewed by independent scholars prior publication to ensure they meet the standards for research in that field. 

Identifying Peer Reviewed Journals

1. The catalogue or database where it is found identifies the journal as a peer reviewed source. (Example)
2. The journal editors identify the publication as
   peer reviewed. 
3. Peer review claims are confirmed by Ulrich's Web. 

Qualitative Studies   &   Quantitative Studies*

Explore the experiences of individuals or groups (Constructivist)

Inductive approaches to collecting data are used.

Open ended analyses (relationship between subject and their context produces new data for interpretation.)

Test theories or hypotheses by examining relationships among variables 

Deductive approaches to collecting data are used.

Closed analyses (the study has defined parameters that determine scope, relevance and validity of measurable data.)

*Creswell, J. (2009). Research design : Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Qualitative Studies   &   Quantitative Studies*

*Creswell, J. (2009). Research design : Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Specific experiences and perspectives of participants

Generalized theories or perspectives concerning relationships or phenomena.

Specific data that confirms or rejects a theory or hypothesis

General theories or hypotheses 

Qualitative Studies   &   Quantitative Studies*

• Case studies
• Questionnaires
• Narrative studies
• Prolonged studies
• Embedded researchers
  (i.e. action research)
   
• Study concludes with new perspectives & theories

• Experimental study
• Data collection by observation and various survey tools
• Measurement and analysis of data
   
• Study concludes with
  new data

*Creswell, J. (2009). Research design : Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Many researchers use mixed method approaches that incorporate both quantitative and qualitative elements.

The Information Landscape

Academic
Articles

Scholarly
Journals

Academic Databases

Library
Catalogue

Google
Scholar

Open Academic
Articles

Pay Wall

Searching
the Library 

vs.

Searching
the Internet

Google

Websites & non-academic articles

Where to Access Resources

Policy Documents
Govt Publications
Statistics & Data

Check multiple sources

Where to start your research:

• The Subject Guide for Education will help you identify the resources relevant to your research.
   
• The advanced search of the library catalogue can be used to search for books and articles but it performs better as a search tool for books.
   
• The journal databases identified by the Subject Guides and Database A-Z are great places to start your search for articles.
   
• Google Scholar is a great resource as well but does not provide access to materials behind publisher paywalls.  

Basic Search Techniques

• Here are some tips to get better search results in the catalogue and databases.

• Combining search terms
• Using quotation marks
• Multiple word endings
• Search formulas with parentheses

Advanced Research as Language Learning

Review prior knowledge and consult reference sources to develop an understanding of language and concepts.

Write Your
Thesis!

Search, read,
review the literature.

Develop an understanding of the literature considering relationships between concepts, authors, and publications.

Expand understanding & critique of concepts, theory, and data.

Encyclopedias
Wikipedia
Research Handbooks
Dictionaries
Thesauri
Bibliographies

Language is important to the research process because:
 

• Our understanding of things is mediated through vocabulary that is contextual, cultural, and always subject to interpretation.
   
• The language representing concepts in dialogue, research, and literature is not always synonymous with the language we use for information retrieval.

Advanced Searching

Advanced Searching

Keywords
(Natural Language)

Subject Headings
(Taxonomy)

Language in the literature representing a domain of knowledge or field of study

Language used to organize a field of study for the purpose of retrieval

Subject Headings 

results are based on a match with the subject heading field in the library or database record.

Subject headings are useful for identifying related materials. 

Keywords

results are based on frequency of word use in the library or database record and in some cases the document text. 

A combination of subject headings and keywords often produce most precise search results.

When you search with...

Monograph Subject Headings

The Library of Congress assigns subject headings for all monograph publications

Article Subject Headings

Databases organize subject headings in a thesaurus.
ERIC offers a comprehensive thesaurus for education.
(See other Education Thesauri.)

Searching with Subject Headings

A few approaches:

• Search with keywords to find relevant books or articles. Use their subject headings to find similar materials.

• Find the preferred subject headings first and search by subject rather than keyword. 

• Refine a subject heading search by adding keywords.

Searching for Subject Headings

Subject Headings Search 

• ERIC Thesaurus
• EBSCO Subject Terms
• PsycInfo Thesaurus

Books

Articles

Citation Management

There are many citation management apps available and
workshops* to help you learn how to use them.

Zotero Workflows

• Create libraries for: 
  • research topics
  • projects / assignments
  • your thesis
• Use the timeline feature to view items in your library chronologically
• Use the MS Word processor integration to:
  • Import / edit references 
  • Import / edit bibliographies

 
Use Zotfile to create off-line library folders on your computer. (Recommended)

APA Style Guides

UM Library copies of recommended APA Guides

Handouts from this Workshop

• Organizing Search Terms
• Creating an Effective Search String
• Activities 1-3

Questions?

Cody Fullerton
Data & Social Science Librarian
Elizabeth Dafoe Library
Cody.Fullerton@umanitoba.ca