INTRODUCTION TO DOCTORAL RESEARCH AND THEORY I
INF 391D.8
Unique Number 28055
Dr. Philip Doty
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin
Fall 2008
Class time: Thursday, 9:00 AM – 12:00 N
Place: SZB 556
Office: SZB 570
Office hrs: Tuesday 10:00 – 11:00 AM
By appointment other times
Telephone: 512.471.3746 – direct line
512.471.2742 – iSchool receptionist
512.471.3821 – main iSchool office
Internet:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
Class URL: http://courses.ischool.utexas.edu/Doty_Philip/2008/fall/INF391D8/
TA: Sarah Kim
Office hours: TBA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction to the course 3 3
Expectations of PhD students’ performance 5
Standards for written work 6
Editing conventions 10
Grading 11
Texts and other tools 12
List of assignments 14
Outline of course 15
Schedule 17
Assignments 24
References
Readings from the class schedule and assignments 28
Selected ARIST chapters 1966-2008 36
Sources on doing research 41
Research and research methods in information studies
Research methods
Nature of science and systematic inquiry
Useful serial sources 49
Additional sources 54
Important professional associations and organizations 74
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
“We live in a period of profound skepticism. We have exposed all of the ‘good lies’ but still crave their solace.”
Sue Curry Jansen, Censorship: The Knot that Binds Power and Knowledge (1991, p. 190)
INF 391D.8, Introduction to Doctoral Research and Theory I, is the first in a two-course sequence of seminars required of doctoral students in the School of Information. The overarching goal of the two courses is to enable students to understand systematic inquiry in information studies and to understand how they can be part of that inquiry. Because the field is both trans- and interdisciplinary, the literatures we read, the concepts we engage, the modes of knowing and argumentation we mobilize, and the criteria we use for judging knowledge claims will reflect a number of positions and traditions.
The course comprises five short units that overlap to some extent:
Unit 1: Exploring the character of information studies (classes 1-2)
Unit 2: Thinking about systematic inquiry (classes 3-7)
Unit 3: Theoretical and methodological overviews of information studies (classes 8-9)
Unit 4: Examining specific theories and methods of inquiry in information studies including
the work of iSchool faculty members and senior doctoral students (classes 10-12)
Unit 5: Presentations of students’ research and summary (classes 13 and 14).
More specifically, INF 391D.8 has the following aims:
· To ensure that students adequately understand the process of research and some of the important ways it has been pursued in the western tradition; review and critique of the principles of scientific inquiry are of special interest.
· To introduce students to the making of theory in the field and cognate disciplines.
· To consider important questions related to epistemology, identity, and community that are of special importance to doing research and making theory in our field. Questions about how we know, how we determine what we know, and how we know in concert with others infuse the course.
· To expose students to important research methods and traditions in the field and beyond, especially to investigate positivist, post-positivist, and constructivist methods of research. These methods may include the empirical social scientific, historical, philosophical, literary, theoretical, ethnographic, quantitative/statistical, qualitative, policy analytic, rhetorical, systems analytic, and so on.
· To consider some of the ways that theory and method have taken shape in the field of information studies.
· To examine three of the major schools of thought that characterize systematic inquiry in our field: (1) the useful if limited simile of information as thing, (2) the cognitivist approach to information retrieval and learning, and (3) the performative perspective emphasizing practice, materiality, community, and the social construction of knowledge.
· To identify a wide variety of the important research fronts in our discipline and cognate disciplines, including the organization of information, intellectual history, information behavior, management of information organizations, and information systems design and evaluation. The particular character of these research fronts will vary according to the interests of the students and the instructor.
There are three major reasons that much of DRT I is dedicated to understanding systematic inquiry, especially science:
- The PhD is a research degree, and enrollment in such a program indicates a commitment to systematic inquiry in its many forms.
- As a discipline and field of inquiry, information studies itself springs from the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, and computational sciences, as well as from the natural and physical sciences to a lesser degree. The more we understand the creation, sharing, and use of knowledge and the practice of inquiry, the better we understand our own discipline and how to do good research.
- In part, our discipline emerged from the marriage of library service and information science and their shared concerns with scholarly communication and the distribution of scientific information. The more we understand the processes of systematic inquiry and the roles of communication in it, the better able we are to design, implement, evaluate, and re-design information systems to serve all kinds of people in all sorts of situations.
With these reasons in mind, nine of the 14 classes in this version of DRT I focus on our field (classes 1-2, 8-9, 10-12, and 13-14), while the other five focus on the bases of systematic inquiry and the practices of knowledge production (classes 3-7). The boundary between a disciplinary-specific focus and a wider look at systematic inquiry is, of course, quite permeable.
Generally, the instructor will begin each class with a brief review of logistics, e.g., readings for next class, assignments, and academic housekeeping. He will then usually talk a bit about the topic(s) and readings for the day’s class, usually keeping his remarks to 30 minutes or less. Then the students will generally have the floor for the rest of the class to engage the readings, discussion questions, assignments, and related topics. Thus, active reading, active participation, and academic initiative are key to our mutual success this semester.
Throughout the semester, we will also try to remain acutely aware of our “cognitive insecurity and our vulnerability to good lies” (Jansen, 1991, p. 191), learning to exercise engaged skepticism – not dismissive cynicism – about the points of view and disagreements we will examine. It is important to remember that reasonable people can disagree and that the classroom is a place where such disagreement is welcome. Not only do humility and academic courtesy demand respect for others, but recall that disagreement is one of our major resources for learning.
One of the implicit themes of the course will be the role of research in the university, the history of the research university in America, the status of the university in American life, and the purpose of graduate (especially doctoral) education. While readings about these topics will not be required, they will be useful supplements to the class readings and useful over the course of students’ academic and professional careers. See, e.g., Ehrlich (1995), Graham & Diamond (1997a, b, and c), Kennedy (1997a, b, c, and d), and Shils (1997a and b).
The course is a way to integrate students more fully into the field, to help them become more active readers and writers, to help them develop as more fully realized researchers, and to enhance their understanding, use, and development of theory in the field. The course encourages students to consider what our field recognizes as convincing evidence, strong modes of argumentation, and appropriate and productive rhetorics. At the same time, students must further develop their own goals, methods, and standards for their scholarly work and that of others.
EXPECTATIONS OF PHD STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE
Students are expected to be involved, creative, and vigorous participants in class discussions and in the overall conduct of the class. In addition, students are expected to:
• Attend all class sessions; if a student misses a class, it is her responsibility to arrange with another student to obtain all notes, handouts, and assignment sheets.
• Read all material prior to class; students are expected to use the course readings to inform their classroom participation and their writing. Students must learn to integrate what they read with what they say and write. This last imperative is essential to the development of professional expertise and to the development of a collegial professional persona.
• Educate themselves and their peers; successful completion of graduate academic programs and participation in professional life depend upon a willingness to demonstrate initiative and creativity. Participation in the professional and personal growth of colleagues is essential to one’s own success as well as theirs. Such collegiality is at the heart of scholarship, so some assignments are designed to encourage collaboration.
· Spend at least 5-6 hours in preparation for each hour in the classroom of a PhD seminar; a 3-credit hour course requires a minimum of 15 hours per week of work outside the classroom.
• Participate in all class discussions.
• Complete all assignments on time; late assignments will not be accepted except in the particular circumstances noted below. Failure to complete any assignment on time will result in a failing grade for the course.
• Be responsible with collective property, especially books and other material on reserve.
• Ask for help from the instructor or the teaching assistant, either in class, during office hours, on the telephone, through email, or in any other appropriate way. Email is especially appropriate for information questions, but please recall that Doty limits his use of email outside the office. Unless there are compelling privacy concerns, it is always wise to send a copy of any email intended for the instructor to the TA as well.
Academic dishonesty, such as plagiarism, cheating, or academic fraud, will not be tolerated and will incur severe penalties, including failure for the course. If there is concern about behavior that may be academically dishonest, consult the instructor. Students should refer to the UT General Information Bulletin, Appendix C, Sections 11-304 and 11-802 and Texas is the Best . . . HONESTLY! (1988) by the Cabinet of College Councils and the Office of the Dean of Students.
The instructor is happy to provide all appropriate accommodations for students with documented disabilities. The University’s Office of the Dean of Students at 471.6259, 471.4641 TTY, can provide further information and referrals as necessary.
STANDARDS FOR WRITTEN WORK
You will be expected to meet professional standards of maturity, clarity, grammar, spelling, and organization in your written work for this class, and, to that end, you will find the following remarks useful. Review these standards both before and after writing.
Every writer is faced with the problem of not knowing what her audience knows about the topic at hand; therefore, effective communication depends upon maximizing clarity. As Wolcott reminds us in Writing Up Qualitative Research (1990, p. 47): "Address . . . the many who do not know, not the few who do." It is also important to remember that clarity of ideas, clarity of language, and clarity of syntax are interrelated and mutually reinforcing.
Good writing makes for good thinking and vice versa. Writing is a form of inquiry, a way to think, not a reflection of some supposed static thought “in” the mind. A vivid example of how this complex process of composition and thought works appears in the unexpurgated version of Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie (1994, p. 144):
Hurstwood surprised himself with his fluency. By the natural law which governs all effort, what he wrote reacted upon him. He began to feel those subtleties which he could find words to express. With every word came increased conception. Those inmost breathings which thus found words took hold upon him.
We need not adopt Dreiser’s breathless metaphysics or naturalism to understand the point.
All written work for the class must be word processed and double-spaced, with 1" margins all the way around and in either 10 or 12 pt. font.
Some writing assignments will demand the use of notes (either footnotes or endnotes) and references. It is particularly important in professional schools such as the School of Information that notes and references are impeccable. Please use APA (American Psychological Association) standards. There are other standard bibliographic and note formats, for example, in engineering and law, but social scientists and a growing number of humanists use APA. Familiarity with standard formats is essential for understanding others' work and for preparing submissions to journals, funding agencies, employers, professional conferences, and the like. You may want to consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001, 5th ed.).
Do not use a general dictionary or encyclopedia for defining terms in graduate school or in professional writing. If you want to use a reference source to define a term, use a specialized dictionary, e.g., The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, or subject-specific encyclopedia, e.g., the International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. The best alternative, however, is having an understanding of the literature about the term sufficient to provide a definition in the context of that literature.
Use a standard spell checker when writing, but be aware that spell checking dictionaries: do not include most proper nouns, particularly personal and place names; omit most technical terms; include few foreign words and phrases; and cannot identify the error in using homophones, e.g., writing "there" instead of "their” or "the" instead of "them."
It is imperative that you proofread your work thoroughly and be precise in editing it. It is often helpful to have someone else read your writing, to eliminate errors and to increase clarity. If you have any questions about these standards, please ask the instructor at any time.
CONTINUED
Remember, every assignment must include a title page with:
• The title of the assignment
• Your name
• The date
• The class number – INF 391D.8.
Since the production of professional-level written work is one of the aims of the class, the instructor will read and edit your work as the editor of a professional journal or the moderator of a technical session at a professional conference would. The reminders below will help you prepare professional written work appropriate to any situation. Note the asterisked errors in #'s 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, and 25 (some have more than one error):