After so much stuff about evaluation theory and practice in this blog, it’s time for some fun! And what better fun is there than fun with numbers?1 Let’s begin our diversion with a graph from my prior post shown here. Looking closely, notice how some of the gold circles lie in neat, parallel bands. These [...]
Archive for the ‘Statistics’ Category
Fun With Numbers
Posted in Data vizualization, Measurement, Statistics on April 1, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Data Are Not Psychic
Posted in Measurement, Research, Statistics, tagged external validity, generalizability, inferential statistics, perceptions of library users, statistical significance testing, survey research on November 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It’s great to see other librarians advocating for the same causes I harp on in this blog. I’m referring to Sarah Robbins, Debra Engel, and Christina Kulp of the University of Oklahoma, whose article appears in the current issue of College & Research Libraries. The article, entitled “How Unique Are Our Users?”1 warns against the [...]
How Do You Know That?
Posted in Measurement, Research, Statistics, tagged inferential statistics, information literacy, sampling error, statistical significance testing, survey research, vetting information on August 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I borrowed the title for this entry from a 2009 study of student research practices by Randall McClure and Kellian Clink. Their study is cited in an article in the current issue of College & Research Libraries that Joe Matthews brought to my attention. This article is Students Use More Books After Library Instruction by [...]
Smaller is Beautifuler
Posted in Library assessment, Measurement, Statistics on June 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A recent article in AL Direct entitled The Smartest Readers presents some simple library rankings based on that stalwart library measure, circulation per capita. Rankings like these are, at least to me, a reminder of a perennial conundrum concerning the meaning of per capita library measures. For more than a century librarianship has puzzled over [...]
Fickle Users of Figures
Posted in Accountability, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Statistics, tagged objectivity in analyzing data, political context of assessment, politics of evaluation on May 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The field of program evaluation has grappled with the political context of institutional performance measurement for decades. For libraries and universities, though, the politics of accountability is newer terrain. In some instances these organizations have unwittingly enrolled in a crash course on the subject, learning in real-time how volatile the process can be. A prime [...]
The U Word
Posted in Advocacy, Measurement, Reporting Evaluation/Assessment Results, Research, Statistics on April 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This week Chase Bank sent an email to its customers saying that one of their vendor’s computer systems were hacked. The bank stated that they: …are confident that the information that was retrieved [i.e., stolen] included some Chase customer e-mail addresses, but did not include any customer account or financial information. Based on everything we [...]
Discussing Accuracy
Posted in Advocacy, Library assessment, Measurement, Research, Statistics on January 11, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Now that I am no longer distracted by the subject of last week’s entry I can get to the intended topic for my first 2011 blog entry. I should say, though, that I won’t be turning over any kind of new leaf for the new year. For now I’m sticking with the theme I’ve dwelt [...]
Experience Keeps a Dear School
Posted in Advocacy, Research, Statistics on September 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Last June the final report from an IMLS-funded study of public library summer reading programs, The Dominican Study: Public Library Summer Programs Close the Reading Gap, was published. The “reading gap” refers to the cumulative loss in proficiency that has been observed in students who struggle with reading. The gap is cumulative because the “summer [...]
E Pluribus Unum
Posted in Measurement, Statistics, tagged aggregate statistics, bivariate data, generalizing from data, summary statistics, variation on August 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
This simple statement is one of several “myths” appearing on GeekTheLibrary: The busier the library, the more money it receives. GeekTheLibrary is concerned that the general public mistakenly believes libraries are funded based on how much they are used by patrons. Perhaps their concern is well founded, I don’t know. But the statement happens also [...]
I Geek Information Accuracy
Posted in Advocacy, Statistics on July 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The second phase of OCLC’s national library advocacy project debuted last year as the “GeekTheLibrary” campaign. The campaign is cool, chic, hip, flashy, geeky, and so on. Pretty ambitious to try to coin new slang! For sure I’m not a good judge of communication campaigns, but I wish them success on this one. When it [...]
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IMLS- Blog Post: National Medal Video: San José Public Library May 29, 2012
- Blog Post: Mark Your Calendars for WebWise Reprise! Live Webinars Coming in June May 25, 2012
- Blog Post: National Medal Video: Madison Children’s Museum May 22, 2012
- Blog Post: Let’s Move Museums & Gardens Success Story: Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History May 18, 2012
- Blog Post: Summer Learning is Important to Student Success May 16, 2012
- New Report Explores Roles of Libraries and Museums in an Era of Participatory Culture May 16, 2012
