UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES First Semester, 2016/2017 Academic Year Office Hours: Wednesdays and Thursdays 2 pm - 5pm Lecturer: Dr. E. Adjei Course Syllabus Course Title

RESEARCH METHODS

Course Code

INFS 323 Tuesday Main Campus - Venue : NNB 3

Lecture Period (s) 15:30-17.30 pm 7.50 – 9.50 am Course Description

Tuesday City Campus INFS 323 is undergraduate level introduction to research methods. The course is designed to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the concepts and principles of social science research. After going through this course, students should be capable of planning, conducting and analysing research with less difficulty. Specifically students should be able to:     

Course Outline

Formulate good research questions and design appropriate research Collect data using a variety of methods Analyse both quantitative and qualitative data using computer based skills Present a research report Critically evaluate any piece of research

Below are the topics to be covered in this course. 1. The nature of Research 2. Research Ethics 3. Basic Elements of Research 4. Types of Research Design 5. Quantitative and Qualitative Research 6. The Research Process 7. Literature Search and Literature Review 8. Population and Sampling 9. Instruments of Data Collection 10. Analysis and Presentation of Data 11. Writing a Research Report 12. Citation and Referencing

INFS 323 2016/2017 DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON

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Teaching and Learning Methods

Lectures will be predominantly lecturer-led with students participating as and when appropriate. Lecturer notes will be supplemented with hand-outs where necessary. Take note that hand-outs for this course are not for sale. You will be required to make photocopies from master copies from me. Teaching is structured to include lab sessions which will focus on learning computer-based data analysis with SPSS, a widely used statistical software package. We will also spend some amount of time on the analysis of texts. The lab sessions offer an opportunity to reinforce class lessons on data analysis.

Course Requirements

You are required to follow and read course materials that will be distributed including your lecture notes. Attendance is also a vital step and it is highly recommended for you to attend lecturers and to take notes. There will be two unannounced class tests which will count towards your final examination grading.

Course Schedule Week No. 1

Date 2016 10/9/16

2

17/9/16

The Nature of Research (continued). Research Ethics (General Ethical Principles; Voluntary Participation and Informed Consent; Concealment and Deception; Protection of Privacy).

3

24/9/16

Basic Elements of Research Concepts; Theory, Variables; Hypotheses.The Nature of Measurement; Reliability and Validity

4

1/10/16

Research Design/Types of Research Design Experimental Survey Case study

5

8/10/16

Literature search and Literature Review Literature Search, Literature Review; Sources of Information

6

15/10/16 Population and Sampling Samples and Population, Sampling Approaches

7

15/1016

8

22/10/16 Population and Sampling (continued)

Lecture Course The Nature of Research Defining and Explaining Research; The Purpose of Research; Types of Research; Research and the Scientific Method; Characteristics of the Scientific Method; Research Procedures.

Tutorials

Assessment

Population and Sampling (continued)

INFS 323 2016/2017 DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON

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9

29/10/16 Instruments of Data Collection Questionnaire; Interview; Observation; Documents

10

6/11/16

11

13/11/16 Analysis and Presentation of Data

12

20/11/16 Writing a Research Report

13

27/11/16 Citation and Referencing

Writing a Research Proposal

14

REVISION WEEK

15 - 16

END OF SEMESTER EXAM

Reading list

Powell, R.R. & Connaway, L.S, (2004). Basic Research Methods for Librarians 4th Edition, Library and Information Science Text series, Westport, Connecticut and London, Libraries Unlimited Aina, L.O (Ed). (2002). Research in Information Sciences: An African Perspective, Ibadan, Stirling-Horden Publishers Busha, C., and Harter, S. (1980). Research methods in Librarianship: Techniques and Interpretations, London, Academic Press. Busha, C & Harter, S. (1980). Research Methods in Librarianship: Techniques and Interpretations. Academic Press: New York, NY. Dempsey, P & Dempsey, A. (2000). Using Nursing Research: process, critical evaluation, and utilization. 5th Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. USA. Denzin, N & Lincoln, Y. (1998). Strategies of Qualitative Inquiry. Sage Publications: London. Dunn, D. (1999). The Practical Researcher: A Student Guide to Conducting Psychological Research. McGraw-Hill College. US. Mason, E and Bramble, W. (1997). Research in Education

INFS 323 2016/2017 DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON

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