More ideas for my 610 research proposal which is DUE next Monday!

Concepts to consider:
•Relational links: semantic vs. structural (my study looks at structural)
•Revisit associations: general vs. specific
•Types of knowledge: declarative vs. ____
•Types of memory: recall vs. recognition (my study looks at recall)

New literature to incorporate:
•Concept maps are node-link diagrams that depict concepts and relationships within a knowledge domain (Andrews 2008, 520) - within a knowledge domain
•Knowledge network representation technique (Dhindsa 2010) – better than saying metacognitive tool (metacognitive tool too vague unless I define)
•Network of nodes and links that accurately and meaningfully represent relations between these nodes (Pinto 2010)
•Knowledge a structured entity (Brookes 1980, 254)
•Little research has focused on establishing existing knowledge and measuring how it changes through using information (Kari 2007) – could pre- and post- CM be used to illustrate this change?
From Herl article: construct validation of an approach to modeling cognitive structure of US history knowledge (Herl, Baker and Niemi)
•Two memory theories: hierarchical (Ausubel) and associationist (Deese)
•Concept mapping as learning strategies (instructional tools)
•Nice wording: “growing consensus among researchers”
•Hierarchical: “part of” and “example of”
•Hierarchical vs. associationist concept maps
•Idea of relational links
•Scoring systems for concept mapping provide quantitative assessments
•Research in cognitive structure identifies patterns in subject domain matter of experts
•Experts structures: cohesive, tightly integrated
•Novices structures: superficial relationships
•Define declarative knowledge: factual, describable information whose organization is flexible (West 1986)
•Herl’s study used experts’ concept maps as criteria to score students’ concept maps
•Herl’s study measured students’ content knowledge and looked at the semantic relationships between concepts; my study looks at structural components
•My study asks: CAN pre and post concept maps illustrate knowledge change?
•Nice wording: “This task was designed to…”
•Nice wording: “adapted from previous research”
•To score the organizational structure of the concept maps, Herl used the C measure (C measures the degree of similarity between neighborhoods of terms in maps)
•They did two types of analyses: descriptive statistics and significance tests
•The number of terms and links were countable statistics
•They used a pre-defined list of terms (selected by experts)
•They used a pre-defined list of links (determined from prior research), such as prior to, led to, response to, similar to, part of, used for

A few notes about conceptual frameworks

These notes come from Punch's text on Social Research.

Operationalize each concept/variable. This means connect concepts to empirical (observable) indicators!
Concept = knowledge change
Indicators = addend, insert, or delete concepts

The purpose of conceptual frameworks is to show the concepts, their conceptual status in relation to one another, and the hypothesized relationships.

Not all quantitative studies need hypothesis, only those that clearly reflect a theory. So, if THEORY, then HYPOTHESIS.

That's all for now...now back to work on my proposal.

Observing Becca's class

Today I observed another doctoral student teach an undergrad course in the school of information sciences. I want to list some of the remarkable strategies she used. Becca is a natural instructor! Her 50-minute session was student-centered and memorable.

1. At the beginning of the class, she stated the core concepts and then said "why is this important?" Then, she answered this question with an example.

2. Her powerpoint slides were like guided notes. There were blank spaces that she filled in during the lecture using custom design. This supported learning and student engagement.

3. The slides were short and sweet. They illustrated important, concise concepts. She didn't talk from her slides.

4. Becca added LOTS of real examples. Many examples to illustrate concepts. The examples were meaningful to college students...like JCrew's website.

5. She asked lots of probing questions. Her lecture was a lot like a discussion.

6. She showed good and bad examples of website designs.

I want to watch Becca teach again!

Why environmental literacy?

Some big picture thoughts/conclusions based on the literature review conducted for SIS 495. I want to capture these ideas!

-INTERDISCIPLINARY: Interdisciplinary nature of environmental sciences matches the interdisciplinary nature of information science.

-COMPLEXITY: Complex environmental issues and data necessitate literacy.

-PARTICIPATION: Environmental issues are participatory and involve participation of citizens in things like data collection (citizen science) and policy decisions (voting). Generation Y (today's college students) is known for its spirit of volunteerism. Higher education a good fit for a course enabling informed participation in environmental issues.

-STANDARDS: Science standards map to ACRL information literacy competencies. There is a clear similarity. See Manuel K. 2004 for an comparison chart.

-MANDATING LEGISLATION: National legislation passed in 1992.

-VARIABLES: To assess environmental literacy, look at knowledge, skills, and participation. Must operationalize these concepts. Relate the concept to empirical indicators.

Some thoughts on the big picture of my research proposal

Okay, this whole research process has been fuzzy and vague. I'm reading a book called Introduction to Social Research by Punch. It's been a helpful read to get to the bottom of research, what it's all about, and how to go about doing it. Help at last!

By the end of my first semester of doctoral studies, I will have written a quantitative research proposal, a daunting and huge task considering I've never done ANY research before!

Well, here goes an attempt to simply state what it is that I want to know?

The assumption - we know knowledge structures change with the incorporation of new information. This is a cognitive dimension of information use. It is using information cognitively to construct or modify knowledge. Brooke's fundamental equation of information science supports that our knowledge structures change.

Research area - information behavior

Research topic - cognitive information use

Gap - But, it's hard to observe and measure this process of knowledge change and few studies have attempted it.

What I want to find out (General RQs) - So, I want to know if pre- and post- information concept maps will measure knowledge change. Do they provide a lens to observe this? And how to knowledge structures change as evidenced in pre and post concept maps?

Aim - further understanding of the cognitive aspects of information use, that is, how information is used to build and modify knowledge (knowledge change).

Conceptual framework - Similarity of Brookes equation and concept mapping.

Hypothesis - thus, following his theory I propose concept maps will be an effective tool to measure this.

Specific RQs:
RQ1 Are concepts added or deleted?
RQ2 Are linking words (across concepts) added or deleted?
RQ3 Are cross-links (across domains) added or deleted?
RQ4 Are concepts inserted? (this changes the structure)
RQ5 Are concepts moved around? (this changes the structure)

Research design - single subject experiment; repeated measure
00----X-----01-----x-----02
00=pre-map (current knowledge)
X=intervention (information)
01-post-map 1 (knowledge change 1)
x=intervention (information)
02=post-map 2 (knowledge change 2)

Data collection -

Data analysis - Is there a significant difference between the maps in terms of (t tests):
-Concepts (RQ1)
-Linking words (RQ2)
-Cross links (RQ3)
-Map structure (RQ4, RQ5)

A few ideas about the methodology for my 610 proposal!

Before I forget...

Here are my current, draft research questions:
RQ1: Do pre- and post-information concept maps measure knowledge change?
RQ2: If so, how do knowledge structures change as evidenced in the pre- and post-information maps?

Measurement ideas!
RQ1: Look at the number of:
-Nodes/concepts
-Links
-Labels
Compare the numbers of each of the three variables between the pre- and post-concept maps.
Is there a significant difference?
Do the numbers of nodes, links, and labels increase (one-directional)?

RQ2: Assess the nature of change according to these categories (Todd, 1999):
-Appending
-Inserting
-Deleting
Consider, are these categories mutually inclusive/exclusive?

Question? Do I want to do more than 2 repeated measures?
pre-information map
post-information 1 map
post-information 2 map

Ideas from Creswell chapter 8 (pp. 158-167)
- A pre-experimental design (Study a single group and provide an intervention during the experiment. No control group to compare with the experimental group)
- Compare pre- and post-information concept maps
- A within-group design (Study only one group)
- For example, a repeated measures design (Assign participants to different treatments at different times during the experiment)
- A one-group pre-test-post-test design (a pre-test measure followed by a treatment and a post-test for a single group)
Group A 01----------X------------02
Group A pre-info map---------new information-----------post-info map
-Potential threat to internal validity would be a selection threat (participants can be selected who are more naturally adept at the concept mapping technique)
-Paired t-tests for data analysis? (I'm comparing two paired measures)
-My hypothesis is testing the difference between pre- and post-info concept maps (a test of difference rather than relationship)

Just some thoughts to capture for my methodology section!

Conceptual framework and Research questions (RQ)

Our conceptual framework and research questions (RQ) are due Nov. 3. This is the next big deadline for the 610 proposal!

The assignment (as I understand it):
-Pull out the pieces from my literature review that inform my RQs and hypotheses.
-Write a paragraph(s).
-Explain/justify my predictions based on the evidence of my lit review and theory framework (for me, this is Brookes' fundamental equation).
-Also, this section should lead into the final methodology section.

That's all for now! :)