SCOPA Grant Proposal

Developing the Senior Essay: Understanding the Undergraduate Research Process

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

How do undergraduate students completing their senior essays use the print materials, microfilm collection, manuscripts & archives, electronic resources, reference services, the selectors, instruction sessions, Orbis, library tours, etc., that are availab le through the Yale University Library?

The focus of this project is to answer all of the above questions and more by conducting focus groups and personal interviews with undergraduate students completing their senior essays. Specifically, I will ask students to discuss how they define their t opics and select a focus, ascertain who they seek advice from (faculty, peers, librarians), explain their process for finding supporting documents, examine the types of services and resources they utilize, and identify different phases in the process in o rder to determine which library resources would be the most valuable in the beginning, middle, and end of the process.

As is the norm in qualitative research, focus groups will serve as a pilot study to determine categories to include in the personal interviews. Often focus group participants will discuss areas that the researcher had not considered and that may be inclu ded in ensuing personal interviews. Focus groups also allow common themes to emerge through the interactions of the participants. Personal interviews will supplement the data gathered from the focus groups and allow the researcher to ask more in-depth q uestions and follow-up on issues emanating from the focus groups.

ESTIMATED TIMELINE

The focus group(s) would take place at the beginning of the Spring 1999 semester, preferably in January. Subsequent personal interviews would take place throughout the remaining months of the semester. Analysis of the collected data would be conducted d uring the Summer of 1999.

BUDGET

Because it is so difficult to determine how many people I will eventually get to participate in both the focus group(s) and the personal interviews I would like to ask the SCOPA committee for some flexibility in allocating a modest budget of $500 for this project based upon the following items:

CONTRIBUTION TO YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND THE LARGER LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE COMMUNITY

The information gleaned from the personal interviews and the focus group(s) will be useful for librarians in designing library services (including instruction sessions, tours, and web based products) to serve the needs of advanced undergraduate students.

I would like to present the findings from the study at either the American Library Association (ALA) or the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) national conferences. Eventually, I would like to submit the results for publication in a lib rary and information science journal.

RESOURCES

  1. Cresswell, J.W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

  2. Fister, B. (1992). The research process of undergraduate students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 18(3), p. 163-169.

  3. Gorman, G.E., & Clayton, P. (1997). Qualitative research for the information professional: A practical handbook. London:Library Association Publishing.

  4. Mason, J. (1996). Qualitative Researching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  5. Maxwell, J.A. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  6. Morgan, D.L. (1997). Focus groups as qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage.

  7. Seidman, I. (1998). Interviewing as qualitative research: A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences (2nd ed.). New York: Teacher's College Press.

  8. Valentine, B. (1993). Undergraduate research behavior: Using focus groups to generate theory. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 19(5), p. 300-304.

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