Transcript Slide 1

Following up on LibQUAL+:
Qualitative Data Analysis
Workshop
Canadian Association of Research Libraries
Association of Research Libraries
October 24, 2007
Colleen Cook, Dean of Libraries, Texas A&M
University
What are the characteristics of
qualitative methods?
• The observer/researcher inseparable from
the study
• Consists of a set of interpretive practices that
tries to make sense of a cultural context
• Data sources: field notes, interviews,
conversations, photographs, recordings, and
memos to the self
• Study a natural setting, attempting to make
sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms
of the meanings people bring to them
How did qualitative methods
evolve?
• Beginnings in Sociology: 1920s and 30s in
the “Chicago School;” in Anthropology: in the
studies by Boas, Mead, Benedict, Bateson,
Evans-Pritchard, Radcliffe-Browne, and
Malinowski
• Through seven moments (Denzin & Lincoln,
2001)
• Today: influences of poststructuralism and
postmodernism from textual studies
How do qualitative and
quantitative methods differ?
• Multiple realities, not a single one “out there”
to be discovered
• Value laden, subjective rather than objective
• Seeks closeness with the investigated
through interviewing and observation rather
than abstract relationships
• Inductive rather than deductive
• Purposeful sampling chosen for diversity
rather than random sampling
• Thick descriptions rather than crisp and
terse background information
• Comfort with contradictions, ambiguity
• Representations include ethnographic
prose, historical narratives, first-person
accounts, still photographs, life
histories, biographical and graphs, thirdperson narratives autobiographical
materials rather than mathematical
models, statistical tables
What data are collected by the qualitative
researcher
(researcher as bricoleur, montage maker)?
• Case studies, personal experience,
introspection, life story, interview, artifacts,
cultural texts and productions, observational,
historical, interactional, and visual texts,
statistics that describe routine and
problematic moments and meanings in
individuals’ lives.
• Inherently multimethod in focus: triangulation
What fields of study are included
in qualitative methods?
• Ethnomethodology, phenomenology,
hermeneutics, feminism,
deconstructionism, ethnography,
interviews, psychoanalysis, cultural
studies, survey research, participant
observation
Qualitative research: the
method of choice
Multiple Methods
of Listening to Customers
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Transactional surveys*
Mystery shopping
New, declining, and lost-customer surveys
Focus group interviews
Customer advisory panels
Service reviews
Customer complaint, comment, and inquiry capture
Total market surveys*
Employee field reporting
Employee surveys
Service operating data capture
Note. A. Parasuraman. The SERVQUAL Model: Its Evolution And Current Status. (2000).
Paper presented at ARL Symposium on Measuring Service Quality, Washington, D.C.
LibQUAL+ as a research
example
• Purposeful sampling
• Unstructured interviews - “conversations with
a purpose”
• Peer review
• Immediate and continuous analysis informing
further exploration
• Journal
• Member checks
• Audit review
Establishing Trustworthiness: A Comparison
of Conventional and Naturalistic Inquiry
Criterion
Conventional
Term
Naturalistic
Term
Naturalistic
Techniques
Truth value
Internal validity
Credibility
Prolonged engagement
Persistent observation
Triangulation
Referential adequacy
Peer debriefing
Member checks
Reflexive journal
Applicability
External validity
Transferability
Thick description
Purposive sampling
Reflexive journal
Consistency
Reliability
Dependability
Dependability audit
Reflexive journal
Neutrality
Objectivity
Confirmability
Confirmability audit
Reflexive journal
Adapted from Lincoln & Guba, 1985.
Randolph High School Stability Within Transition
The Audit Trail
Index
Card
I. A Rich History (p.44)
A. Location of the base/the TAJ
B. Base description/access
C. Base housing description
D. History of the base
E. Mission of the base/Education of personnel
F. History of the school district/funding
II. The High School (p.47)
A. Perimeter Road
1. Description
2. Stadium
3. Trees
B. Campus description
C. High school office description/secretaries
D. Teachers/ lounge description
E. Patio area description
F. Main classroom building description/display cases
IA,IB
IB
IB,IC
Photos
4,5,6
6
Artifacts
B: Base D:District
S: School C: Calendar
A: Annuals
N:Newspaper
B1
B1
B1,D2
A(1,2),D2,P32
N(34,35,41)
IE(1-3)
IF(1-2)
IIA
8,9
8
IIB(1-2)
IIC(1-6)
IIE
IIF
7
A(1-5,12)
10,11,14,80,81
65,66
67,68
15-18,24-28
30-44,49
2,90
III. The Principal—”Do what’s best for the kid!” (p. 51)
A. Physical description
1. “Conservative”
2. “Clean-cut”
3. “Honest”
4. “Country Gentleman”
5. “Western-cut clothes”
6. “Never having a hair out of place”
7. “Trim”
Excerpted from Skipper, 1989.
IIIA2(1-2)
IIIA2(1)
IIIA2(2),IIIA3
IIIA4
IIIA4
IIIA2(1)
IIIA6(1-2)
2,90
A16
2,90
2,90
90,92
Affect of Service
“I want to be treated with respect. I want
you to be courteous, to look like you
know what you are doing and enjoy
what you are doing. … Don’t get into
personal conversations when I am at
the desk.”
Faculty member
Affect of Service
“I want to be treated with respect. I want
you to be courteous, to look like you
know what you are doing and enjoy
what you are doing. … Don’t get into
personal conversations when I am at
the desk.”
Faculty member
Library as Place
“One of the cherished rituals is going up the
steps and through the gorgeous doors of the
library and heading up to the fifth floor to my
study. … I have my books and I have six
million volumes downstairs that are readily
available to me in an open stack library.”
Faculty member
Library as Place
“I guess you’d call them satisfiers. As
long as they are not negatives, they
won’t be much of a factor. If they are
negatives, they are a big factor.”
Faculty member
Information Control
“By habit, I usually try to be self-sufficient.
And I’ve found that I am actually fairly
proficient. I usually find what I’m
looking for eventually. So I personally
tend to ask a librarian only as a last
resort.”
Graduate student
Information Control
“…first of all, I would turn to the best search
engines that are out there. That’s not a
person so much as an entity. In this sense,
librarians are search engines [ just ] with a
different interface.”
Faculty member
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Dimensions of
Library Service Quality
Library
Service
Quality
Information
Control
Affect of Service
Empathy
Scope of Content
Responsiveness
Convenience
Assurance
Reliability
Ease of Navigation
Library as Place
Utilitarian space
Symbol
Refuge
Model 3
Timeliness
Equipment
Self-Reliance
So…..what did we do at Texas
A&M?
Affect of Service
Library as Place
Renovation
Information Control
Digital Initiatives
Research Team
Digital Repositories
What are we doing now?
Total Circulation
600000
550000
500000
450000
04
20
03
20
02
20
01
20
00
20
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
94
19
93
19
92
19
19
91
400000
Note. M. Kyrillidou and M. Young. (2005). ARL Statistics 2003-04. Washington, D.C.: ARL, p.6.
The use of focus groups in
planning
The End
woof