PILOT STUDY
INSTRUCTIONS:
Conduct a pilot research project including all the parts specified here (parts 1 through 6). You will be preparing a pilot research project for a library and information science (LIS) topic of interest and which you deem worthy of research.
Parts 1 through 6 are meant to serve as guides into the process of putting together the project and also will help organize the final product, which should be divided into these same six (6) sections and adequately labeled following APA format.
For this project the parts should be put together with the same care that would be used for a final pilot research project report, which will look very similar to any article you find in a peer-reviewed research journal.
1. Introduction (PART 1)
Explain the issue you are researching and why it is significant to the field.
Describe the general area of the study, including the organizational context (e.g. public library in a rural area, academic library in a big private institution, etc.)
Explain why researching this phenomenon is important to the general area under study
2. Background/Review of the Literature (PART 2)
Describe what is already known about this area and include a short discussion of why the background studies are not sufficient.
Summarize what is already known about the field. Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic gleaned from your literature review
Discuss several critical studies that have already been done in this area (Include at least 7 peer reviewed sources explaining what has been done in the area in which you are interested or similar/related areas)
Point out why these background studies are insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they leave unresolved that you would like to study?
3. Problem Statement/Rationale (PART 3)
Describe the question(s) you are examining and explain why it is important (i.e. explicitly address the ‘so what?’ factor)
List the specific research question(s) that you are exploring.
Explain how these research questions are related to the larger issues raised in the introduction.
Describe what specific claim, hypothesis, and/or model will be evaluated with these questions.
4. Method and Design (PART 4)
A description of how you would go about collecting data and test the questions you are examining.
Use these general parts and guiding questions to organize your project’s method and design as they apply to your specific topic, context of your evaluation project and problem statement.
Be aware that you might not directly address each and every one of these parts below, only those that best fit your project. You may also need to organize certain aspects differently in order to make clear the steps you will follow to collect, analyze data and present results of this data.
Method: How did you collect the data? Why is this a good method to collect data in the context of your research question?
Describe the general methodology you chose for your study, in order to gather data that will help inform your research question.
Rationale: Explain why this method is the best for your purposes.
Participants or data gathered: Who or what did you test and why? How many? (If people: what are the characteristics you were looking for? If data: Why did you choose this type of data?)
Describe the sample you used and explain why you chose this sample. Were there any participants or items you excluded? Why?
Design: What did you do in order to gather and analyze the data? What did the stimuli look like and why? The answer will include a number of the components listed below. Consider accordingly as they apply to the study you want to conduct.
Procedure
How did you present the stimuli? (i.e. How did you obtain the data? How did you recruit participants? How was the survey distributed? How and when did the focus groups take place? How many participants per focus group?)
What did the participants in the pilot project do? (i.e. Responded to questions in an interview questionnaire while you recorded? Searched in a website while a software program captured the ‘clicks’ and mouse movements? Filled out a survey?)
Analysis
How did you analyze the results? (mention specific strategies, and tools you used)
Include any specific steps for processing the data
5. Results and Conclusion (PART 5 – NEEDS CONCLUSION)
Discuss, in general, the findings you uncovered during the data analysis process and how your proposed pilot study would lead to a significant improvement over the available studies and how it would benefit the LIS field. (In other words, why should anyone care? If you were applying for money to do this, why would someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why would they be interesting?)