The Rep Test and Other Sorting Tasks in ILS ResearchPhillip M. Edwards and Amy VanScoy{phillip.m.edwards, vanscoy}@unc.eduUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillSchool of Information and Library ScienceCB #3360, 100 Manning HallChapel Hill, NC 27599-3360

Slides will be available via: http://www.unc.edu/home/pmedward/

Overview

•The “canonical” techniques•Vignettes of sorting tasks in ILS research•In practice: Designs, challenges, and

benefits

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Role Construct Repertory Test

Designed to elicit constructs and contrasts about people (and self)

Multiple variations:▫ Minimum Context Form w/ Role Title Sheet▫ Minimum Context Card Form▫ Sequential Form▫ Full Context Form▫ Repertory grid

Kelly, G. A. 1955. Theory and personality. Vol.1 of The psychology of personal constructs. New York: W. W. Norton.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

“Beautiful research” using the minimum context card form

Spradley, J. P. 1970. You owe yourself a drunk: An ethnography of urban nomads. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Kwasnik, B. H. 1991. The importance of document factors that are not document attributes in the organization of personal documents. Journal of Documentation 47 (4): 389-98.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Carlyle, A. 2001. Developing organized information displays for voluminous works: A study of user clustering behaviors. Information Processing & Management 37 (5): 677-99.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Tennis, J. T. 2003. Data collection for controlled vocabulary interoperability—Dublin Core audience element. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (December/January): 20-3. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Dec-02/tennis.html.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

McKnight, C. 2000. The personal construction of information space. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 51 (8): 730-3. 

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Potthoff, J. K., Weis, D. L., Montanelli, D. S., and Murbach, M. M. 2000.  An evaluation of patron perceptions of library space using the role repertory grid procedure. College & Research Libraries 61 (3): 191-203.

“…the Role Repertory Grid Procedure and the thematic analysis employed in this research to analyze responses seemed a valuable way to identify the entire spectrum of possible responses” (p. 202)

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Crudge, S. E., and Johnson, C. 2004. Using the information seerker to elicit construct models for search engine evaluation. Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology 55 (9): 794-806. 

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Edwards, P. M. Forthcoming. Mapping scholars’ decision processes and factors that influence how they publish and distribute their work. PhD diss., University of Washington.

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Research Design

•Guiding question:▫How do scholars make decisions about

where they publish or how they distribute their work?

•Method:▫Collected CVs from participants▫Critical incident/decision interview▫Full context form of the Rep Test

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Results from multiple approachesInvestigator-selected items Participant-suggested items

Red items were volunteered for discussion by the participant during the direct interview.

Black items were discussed by the participant only during the full context rep test.

*A: GFH, CE, NJ, OH, and B03. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2008).

*B: TLT, LJ, B03, OJ, NY, HD, A-QM, and TUT. ISME J (2008).

*C: OH, GFH, and B03. Plant Signaling & Behavior (2006). [Version available at a co-author’s website]

*D: OH, GFH, and B03. Plant Signaling & Behavior (2006).

*E: GFD, TU, UO, LX, HD, and B03. Trends in Plant Science (2006).

*F: TU, PTU, TGE, and B03. Plant Signaling & Behavior (2006).

*G: TU, TGE, and B03. Planta (2005).*H: UU, NU, and B03. J. Exptl. Bot. (2005).I: TU, TGE, and B03. In [edited volume], , edited by

HD, TO, and FX. (2006).J: GFD, TU, UO, HD, and B03. Trends in Plant

Science (2007).K: OU, OO, XU, GD, and B03. Plant Science Bulletin

(2008).L: B03. Plant Cell Environ (1999).M: LVOG, ERM, and B03. Plant Physiol. (1991).

[Version available at PubMed Central]

*01: MCU, and B03. Plant Cell and Environment. (2004).*02: UU, NU, and B03. Functional Plant Biology. (2003).*03: OH, NCJ, CGE, PTU, GFH, and B03. Planta. (2003).*04: unpublished pt 2 to B03_A*05: B03, TGE, and OY. Planta (1990). [pt. 2]*06: B03, and TGE. Planta. (1990). [pt. 1]*07: B03, and TGE. Planta (1977).*08: B03, and TGE. Planta. (1980).*09: LV, YET, ELE, PM, LGJ, and B03. Plant Physiology. (1981).*10: ROP, B03, and TGE. Plant Physiology. (1988).*11: DU, OU, and B03. Journal of Experimental Botany. (1989).*12: LT, B03, and VOJ. Tree Physiology. (1990).*13: RCN, B03, and TGE. Plant Physiology. (1990).*14: LVOG, ERM, and B03. Plant Physiology. (1991).

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

Challenges

•Moving beyond the “superficial” constructs and contrasts

•Understanding or eliciting elements needed for the most effective/illuminating sorting process

[Presented on January 22, 2009 at the ALISE Annual Conference, Denver, CO]

The Rep Test and Other Sorting Tasks in ILS ResearchPhillip M. Edwards and Amy VanScoy{phillip.m.edwards, vanscoy}@unc.eduUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillSchool of Information and Library ScienceCB #3360, 100 Manning HallChapel Hill, NC 27599-3360

Slides will be available via: http://www.unc.edu/home/pmedward/