The ILA (methodology)

Background

Finding a class to observe during their Inquiry learning Activity proved quite difficult (see post on Comparison to Kuhlthau’s ISP and also "What my ILA is all about"). Fortunately I did find an excellent school with a very experienced IL teacher and although the students’ ILA was not complete by the end of the university year, my lecturer gave permission for the late submission of my research project. This will be the first post in a sequence of posts describing how data was obtained and used to report the findings of this study.

Methodology

Data were collected using the School Library Impact Measure(SLIM) toolkit. This instrument was developed by Todd, Kuhlthau & Heinstrom in 2005 and was designed to measure changes in students’ levels of knowledge and information skills throughout an Information Learning Activity (ILA).

The details of the ILA as presented to the students can be found here. The aim of the study was to identify and assess which of several models of inquiry learning was used. Prior to the commencement of the ILA the teacher and I had a meeting to discuss the details and purpose of the ILA. I was told that it would continue for the duration of the fourth term, six weeks with three lessons per week. I was not able to attend all the lessons, but made sure I was there at least once a week. The teacher was informed that I would administer three questionnaires to the students. This happened at the beginning, middle and end of the unit. The teacher let the students know what would be happening before my arrival and kindly allowed me to address the students during my first visit. I informed them about the purpose of the study and assured them that their identity and that of the school and teacher would remain confidential at all times.  All students appeared interested and agreed to take part.

The first questionnaire was administered during their second lesson on the ILA. The second questionnaire was completed by students after the ILA had been running for 4 weeks. The third questionnaire was administered after a presentation evening during which students presented their results graphically and tangibly. They verbally explained and defended their findings to staff, parents, relatives and friends. Twenty four Year 9 female students from an independent school based in Brisbane took part in the study. Two students did not complete all the questionnaires due to absence however their responses were taken into account where appropriate. A random sample of 10 students' results were chosen for a more in-depth report. Approximately every second student was selected from an alphabetical list.

Data for the questions were coded and analysed according to the SLIM toolkit. Some of the literacy skills mentioned in the toolkit were not encountered in any of the students’ answers and were therefore not included in the analysis report. Excerpts of the students’ responses and the reasoning behind placing them within certain “literacy skill” categories have been explained for each of the students used in the sample. Details of the results of the data analysis and the interpretation of these results can be found in a later post.

References

Todd, R. J., Kuhlthau, C. C., & Heinstrom, J. E. (2005). School library impact measure (SLIM): A toolkit and handbook for tracking and assessing student learning outcomes of guided inquiry through the school library. Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, Rutgers University.