Putting Evidence to Work in Your Library

Course

Outcomes Evidence [2:24]

Learn about three forms of outcomes evidence: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods.

The tricky type of evidence is collecting evidence of practice. This is the outcomes evidence in which you will be collecting evidence of your own work. Rather than looking at the research of others, collecting outcomes evidence is about taking part in your own original data collection. It's about the creation of new knowledge, and, honestly, it's very exciting. You can always be collecting evidence informally, but here's something to keep in mind.

The evidence that you collect should serve a purpose. I don't mean that you should expect to know the outcome. If that were the case, then why would we even bother collecting evidence at all? You might not know how the evidence will turn out, or if you'll even like what you'll see, but if you're collecting it with a purpose, you'll be to make decisions based on the evidence and move in the right direction regardless.

In addition to collecting evidence with a purpose, to really put the evidence work for you, make sure that purpose is aligned with the goals and priorities of your school and district. This is a point that I couldn't possibly emphasize enough. If evidence is the best form of advocacy, it does its strongest work when moving toward the ultimate goals that your school and district are aiming to achieve.

When collecting evidence of practice, you'll typically be going one of three routes. Data collection that is quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of those two. If you've dabbled in action-based research, these terms are likely familiar to you, but if not, don't worry. You're not about to get a crash course in research methods. That's a topic for another set of lessons entirely.

Rather than get stuck in the weeds about these theoretical concepts of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods data collection, we're going to look at these different types of collection from their roots. You can think of them in another way, as objective, subjective, or a little of both.

Now, this is slightly simplistic, but it's also less intimidating and it's going to serve our purpose as well. In the next couple of lessons, we'll explore these different types of data collection and you'll get a better understanding of how each type of collection may work best for you.

Determining & Aligning Your Research Purpose

Determining a research purpose is a crucial step in investigating changes you're considering making in your library. In this lesson, DiScala emphasizes the importance of identifying the purpose of any evidence that you plan to collect and aligning it with the goals and priorities of your school and district. Use the Planning Template in the Resources below to help you complete the Reflect & Practice activity.

RESOURCES:

Template

REFLECT & PRACTICE:

What questions or problems would you like to investigate in your library? What changes would you like to make in your program? Use the questions on pages 5–6 of the Planning Template to brainstorm possible areas to research.

MLA Citation

"Putting Evidence to Work in Your Library: Determining & Aligning Your Research Purpose." School Library Connection, January 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2186027?learningModuleId=2186016&topicCenterId=2158571.

Entry ID: 2186131

Additional Resources

Bibliography.

About the Author

Jeffrey DiScala, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Darden College of Education at Old Dominion University. He earned his master's and doctorate from the University of Maryland. He is co-principal investigator for The Lilead Project, a research and professional development program for school library leaders. His research interests include education, technology, and information policies in education and professional development for school librarians and classroom teachers. He has co-authored numerous articles in publications such as Library Quarterly, School Library Research, School Libraries Worldwide, and Knowledge Quest.

MLA Citation

DiScala, Jeffrey. "Putting Evidence to Work in Your Library. Outcomes Evidence [2:24]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, January 2019, schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2186027?learningModuleId=2186016&topicCenterId=2158571.

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https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Content/Course/2186027?learningModuleId=2186016&topicCenterId=2158571

Entry ID: 2186027