Start Date
12-3-2019 11:00 AM
End Date
12-3-2019 12:15 PM
Description
In this presentation, I will reflect on my experience conducting a mixed methods research study of graduate students at Ohio University. Dissatisfied with previous efforts to support graduate students on our campus, two colleagues and I used focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a survey questionnaire to explore graduate students' self-identified research needs as well as how they prefer to learn research skills. The data from this study was used to inform subsequent library instruction and outreach for this population. In this presentation, I will discuss why we decided to take a mixed methods approach to study graduate students, and how we went about using the qualitative data from the first stage of the study to develop a quantitative survey instrument for the second stage. I will also discuss why we found a mixed methods approach to be particularly valuable for understanding the needs of a local user population, and what changes we might implement if we undertake a similar project in the future.
Mixin-It Up: Using a Mixed Methods Approach to Understand Graduate Student Needs
In this presentation, I will reflect on my experience conducting a mixed methods research study of graduate students at Ohio University. Dissatisfied with previous efforts to support graduate students on our campus, two colleagues and I used focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a survey questionnaire to explore graduate students' self-identified research needs as well as how they prefer to learn research skills. The data from this study was used to inform subsequent library instruction and outreach for this population. In this presentation, I will discuss why we decided to take a mixed methods approach to study graduate students, and how we went about using the qualitative data from the first stage of the study to develop a quantitative survey instrument for the second stage. I will also discuss why we found a mixed methods approach to be particularly valuable for understanding the needs of a local user population, and what changes we might implement if we undertake a similar project in the future.
