Making Research Work for You

A course of four workshops on research methods for library and information professionals

Intended audience
Increasingly research is an important component of the work of library and information professionals. They need to research user needs, to assess the quality of their services, or to gather evidence to support decision making as managers. This course series is aimed at library and information professionals who are new to research. This may include experienced service managers through to new graduates aiming to develop their research skills. The course has been devised as a whole and it is hoped that the majority of participants sign up to all four workshops.

The workshops are interactive and are designed to help participants learn by doing. They also aim to teach the fundamental principles behind most research and to equip participants to find out for themselves and to develop their skills subsequently. The maximum number of participants is restricted to 20 to allow maximum interaction. Early registration is therefore recommended.

List of workshops

Strategic issues in research planning
This workshop introduces the concept of research planning and takes participants through the process of defining the research question, initiating and conducting a research project. The focus of the workshop will be on the usability of research results and the design of a project to encourage uptake. A variety of approaches to dissemination and evaluation of research will be explored.

Designing a good questionnaire survey
This workshop will alert participants to the issues surrounding different approaches to questionnaire survey design. There will be an opportunity to do some practical questionnaire design.

Doing research with people - interviews and group work
This workshop will help participants to develop interview skills. Some consideration will also be given to the appropriate use of focus groups as a research tool, and guidance on when other techniques (including other forms of group work) may be more appropriate.

Creative data analysis
This workshop introduces participants to a range of techniques for analysing research data. It explores analysis in the context of a range of research situations from practically oriented research through to more generalisable research.

Course tutors
David Haynes of CILIP Consultancy Services and David Streatfield of Information Management Associates jointly deliver the course. Both course tutors have extensive experience of library and information research. With support from the British Library, they were commissioned by LIRG to design and deliver the original series of LIRG research methods workshops in 1999. The course has been successfully run three times.