Research Methods


This is just a quick link to a gateway about social science research method.

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Web Search Efficacy

The following paper was published recently: Mansourian, Y. (2008). Web search efficacy: definition and implementation, Aslib Proceedings , Vol. 60, No. 4, pp. 349-363. Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to report a number of factors that are perceived by web users as influential elements in their search procedure. The paper introduces a new conceptual measure called “web search efficacy” (hereafter WSE) to evaluate the performance of searches mainly based on users' perceptions. Design/methodology/approach – A rich dataset of a wider study was inductively re-explored to identify different categories that are perceived influential by web users on the final outcome of their searches. A selective review of the literature was carried out to discover to what extent previous research supports the findings of the current study. Findings – The analysis of the dataset led to the identification of five categories of influential factors. Within each group different factors have been recognize...
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The Informed Web Searcher

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The Informed Web Searcher: Advanced Information Strategies is a workshop which is run by InfusionS . I am not able to attend the workshop but I’ll write about it here because its theme is directly related to my research area. The workshop would be useful for people who want to learn more about searching the web and related skills. Based on their website the workshop has been designed to achieve the following goals: “developing advanced information retrieval skills applicable across the range of information services; comparing and contrasting variety of search engines, tools and techniques; searching for specific types of information , and using specialised search engines; what is the Deep Web, and strategies for accessing information; techniques for validating information on the Internet, detecting misinformation, spoofs etc; tracking down pages that have disappeared; latest developments in search engines, tools and techniques; awareness of relevant legal and ethical issues."
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Against Information Literacy!

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Peter Williams’ opinion about the role of information literacy has been published on the CILIP website. He has expressed his disillusionment with the real role of information literacy. In this argument he claimed that the necessity of information literacy has been overestimated by experts in this area and we all need to rethink about the ‘underlying tenets of the information literacy’. If you like to read the full text of this debate please click here .
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