Week+4+Notes

Week 4- July 23, 2011
Text: 147-162 Text: 103

Lewin, T. (2010, February 3). Quick Response to Study of Abstinence Education. New York Times.

Agosto, D. E. (2010). Urban teens and their use of public libraries. In Urban teens in the library: Research and Practice. Pp. 83-99. [Oncourse]

Gorman, G. E. & Clayton, P. (2005). Qualitative Research for the Information Professional: A Practical Handbook. Chapters 1 & 2. [Oncourse]

Chatman, E. (1996). The impoverished life-world of outsiders. J //ournal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology// , //47// (3), 193-206.
 * **Lingering Question:**  Since this article was published in 1996, digital reference is quite common. Are there any studies regarding the impact of digital reference as it relates to the issue of users' distrust causing them to not seek information that is too risky to seek? Does the relative anonymity afforded by the internet made “trust” and information-seeking behaviors a non-issue?
 * **Point of Interest:** I rather enjoyed this article—especially Chatman's emphasis on the value of studying people's everyday lives as a source of insight into the information-seeking behaviors. Having learned a bit about Chatman in class, I'd like to learn more about her.

__**Article 2**__ Dilevko, J. (2007). Inferential statistics and librarianship." //Library & Information Science Research// , //29// , 209-29.
 * **Lingering Question:** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">I am a bit curious why Dilevko did not break down the data for the number of articles using inferential statistics with exclusive authorship by library-professions into subcategories of the type of library the individuals worked for (public, academic, etc.) since it is much more rare for a public library professional to conduct and report on research. Perhaps I missed this data within the body of the discussion, however, Table 5 (p. 222) does not specify any type of associated library.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**Point of Interest:** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> It's hard to fathom how library schools decide what to teach as requisite courses since there are so many topics that crucial to know as a new librarian. For instance, there was a lot of debate among my fellow students last term in my <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//Seminar in Intellectual Freedom// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> class as to why a course in intellectual freedom is not a required course for our program. Many students commented that they had had other courses where the professor did bring up intellectual freedom within the context of that particular course, however, it was that particular professors choice to do so. There are, therefore, conceivably students graduating from IU SLIS that will never have heard of the term “intellectual freedom”. Dilevko's relatively recent (2007) discussion of the nationwide rarity of LIS students enrolled in ALA-accredited programs who are required to take even an introductory course on research methods (pp. 224-225) made me wonder why IU SLIS chose to be the exception to this “rule”.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">__**Article 3**__ <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Jemmott, III, J., Jemmott, L., & Fong, G. (2010). Efficacy of a theory-based abstinence-only intervention over 24 months. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">, <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//164// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">(2), 152-159.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**Lingering Question:** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> The discussion in class made me wonder about the kinds of articles written subsequent to the publication of Jemmott, III, et al.'s findings which have chosen to cite this politically-charged study. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//Web of Science// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> yielded 12 citing articles ranging from publication dates of February 2010 and July 2011 (with today's date being July 25, 2011). 7 of the 12 articles were published in the same article that published this study (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine), and one of which was penned by 2 of the 3 authors of the J. Jemmott, III, L. Jemmott, and G. Fong article. It would be interesting to further analyze this group of citing articles for <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//independent variables (I think...)// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> by coding for possible patterns like how many are research articles, the number of articles that counter or agree with this study's findings, how many of the citing articles were written by researchers who had ties to other politically charged studies, how “friendly” the authors have historically been with J. Jemmott, III, et al.'s past research, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**Point of Interest:** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> I realize that this is kind of another lingering question, however, I had to wonder about the fact that this article omitted the fact that the study participants were allegedly given $20 per session to participate. This does not seem ethical and it, in fact, seems deceitful since J. Jemmott, III presented a very careful explanation of the measures they took to do their best to elicit honest responses (emphasized to participants that their honesty would benefit other African Americans/appealed to their sense of duty, made the participants take a test that is supposed to determine one's propensity towards framing the things they say about themselves in distorted and favorable light aka the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, etc.).

Due:
 * Initial Bibliography
 * Analysis B (Qualitative Data, Arguments)//** (OK to send Article to Professor to make sure it's Qualitative not Quantitative) **//