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Brainstorming Research Questions
From ERIAL Toolkit:
"The development of the research question begins with clarifying what you know and what you do not know. We suggest, as a first step, brainstorming research questions with your research team.
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Try to match your data collection efforts to the groups or practices you are most interested in studying. Whenever possible, link your research questions to specific, tangible, activities that can be directly observed. Avoid too many abstract questions, or questions that require speculation. Ethnographic methods usually work best when they are linked to actual events, experiences and examples."
Knowns: Here’s what we know and how we know it
Knowns | Data Source [indicates probable source] |
Basic demography of patrons | [probably Institutional research and planning (CALS & CHE stats)] |
Small studies of individual libraries’ user preferences | (e.g. Geneva study) |
Patrons love our friendly service & we know what our donors want/like | Word of mouth comments; Alumni Affairs |
Adequacy of e- and print resources |
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E-resource statistics/patron use of e-resources | Counter |
Patron ILL + BD requests |
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Patron purchase requests |
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# of e-reserve uses | Ares |
How many checkouts (books, equipment, rooms, course reserves, laptops) | Circ stats |
Book circulation is down; laptop circulation is in decline | Circ stats |
Software usage | LabStats? |
Software requests |
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Frequency of library usage in person and online; how using space | Gate count??? (unreliable); SUMA headcount |
Faculty don’t come into physical building | anecdotal |
Study space preferences (quiet, rooms, grad) | Observational data |
Popularity of 2nd floor study spaces; students want collaborative study spaces | MaLT assessment |
24/5 isn’t popular-not being used | No. of card swipes |
Traffic to web pages-most visited pages; Virtual visits-web visits from outside library to library-hosted sites | Google Analytics |
Number of reference consultations and questions; Reference desk and chat transactions are down; length of transactions has increased | [Count It] |
# of RDMSG and GIS consultations | [Count It] |
Poster printing is heavily used service | # of posters printed and $ brought in |
Patron research behavior | Email and chat reference interactions |
How grads do research | Ethnographic study |
Workshops & instruction (half of all registered attendees show up; number of attendees based on topic) | [Evanced and Count It] |
Curriculum map of instruction | [A&C: Count It, registrar, Cornell websites] |
How much library impacts research and instruction |
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Class assessment |
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Self-reported impact of library-ability to do research; quality of resources | Senior Survey |
% of students measuring up to [faculty] expectations | Faculty survey |
# of faculty using instruction (why or why not?) | [Count It; Faculty survey] |
Faculty encourage use of library resources | [Faculty survey] |
Hard to engage with faculty & relationship building as effective mode of outreach | Professional experience & increased communication & contact |
Unknowns: Need to Know and Nice to Know
Need to Know: I want to know (in the next 6 months or so). . .
- How to reach undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty/instructors in the best way? What is the most effective marketing tool for each audience (social media, website, relationship building)?
- What social media are the best routes for talking to students? What draws people to our social media?
- How can we better help students navigate (and critically discern) the increasingly complex info ecosystem (e.g. metaliteracy)?
- How many go through CALS & CHE without having literacy training?
- What undergraduates know about libraries entering their first year
- Effectiveness of instruction sessions
- [How to] reach students at the right time with information literacy training (scaffolding)
- What do faculty see as the role of the library as developing research skills?
- % of students who get discouraged and turned off by website
- What e-resources are being used most, by what user groups (faculty/staff/etc) and from where (campus, Geneva, off campus Ithaca)
- How our virtual exhibits are being used
- What draws students to the library besides study spaces?
- For those not coming into the physical spaces, why are they not coming in?
- Which departments are receptive to liaison efforts and why? Effectiveness of library liaison model?
- What are the top 5 value propositions of institutional repositories for faculty?
Nice to Know: I want to know (sometime in the near future):
- % of students we are reaching with instruction w/CALS & CHE (undergrads and grads)
- Are faculty concerned about what appears to be a decline in use of printed monographs vs. electronic resources?
- Do students understand why not Google?
- Where else are students finding information? Where do they start? Google only?
- What types of engagement activities would undergrads like to have in the library?
- What software applications are students using to work together and communicate?
- How are students using multimedia software in their class projects?
- Unmet needs? What are key needs of incoming undergraduate and graduate students?
- Who is using our digital collections? Demographics of e-resource use? E-resource use over wifi?
- Who is using the library? (spot check? card swipe as in urban libraries though not sure we need this?) Gender breakdown in teh use of the library (possible effects on spaces, services, marketing)?
- How do we best reach local community with news of our events and exhibits and other land grant services?
- what are faculty opinions/beliefs about open access?
- How important are alternative metrics/altmetrics of scholarly impact?
- Why are our desktops so popular (community [NY state] use vs. student use])? Desktop use compared with open use of our study spaces?
- Why are students using our 24/5 study spaces? And those that are using it, why?
- Users might want to know spaces available (know ahead whether there will be a space)
- Real time assessment (“heads up” dashboard with trends)
- Visualization of data (Georgia Tech dashboard; e.g. # of people in library at that time)
Emailed questions:
Looking to the future, we would like to plan innovated spaces at Mann Library that will support new learning environments and maximum flexibility.
- Can you share any insights for improving Mann Library furniture and layouts?
- What improvements do you recommend to support learning-centered, collaborative, and social learning environments? What is missing?
- Do you like to use workstations with movable walls?
- How do you rate the lighting in the library?
- How can we optimize our spaces to support engaged learning?
- Ergonomic and comfortable furniture is critical for student focus and attention. Do you have any recommendations?
- What is the primary reason you use Mann Library spaces? (a quiet place the study, work, read, write? A convenient location for group study, team projects? Is it a place to recharge or relax between classes?)
- How often do you use Library spaces? (less than 3 hours per week, 3-5 hours per week, 5-8 hours per week, 8-10 hours per week, 10-15, 15-20, etc.)
- What do you recommend for technology driven spaces?
- What can we do to improve our workstations and study rooms? Please include any furniture ideas that might help.
- Are there any recurring problems that you have experienced with your study area or with the services we provide?
As we study users to understand how they collaborate on research/study and what needs they have:
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