The Rep Test and Other Sorting Tasks in ILS Research

1
The Rep Test and Other Sorting Tasks in ILS
Research

• Phillip M. Edwards and Amy VanScoy
• phillip.m.edwards, vanscoy_at_unc.edu
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• School of Information and Library Science
• CB 3360, 100 Manning Hall
• Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
• Slides will be available via http//www.unc.edu/h
  ome/pmedward/

2
Overview

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

3
The canonical techniques
4
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.

5
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.

6
Vignettes of sorting tasks in ILS research
7
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.
8
Carlyle, A. 2001. Developing organized
information displays for voluminous works A
study of user clustering behaviors. Information
Processing Management 37 (5) 677-99.
9
Tennis, J. T. 2003. Data collection for
controlled vocabulary interoperabilityDublin
Core audience element. Bulletin of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology
(December/January) 20-3. http//www.asis.org/Bull
etin/Dec-02/tennis.html.
10
McKnight, C. 2000. The personal construction of
information space. Journal of the American
Society for Information Science 51 (8) 730-3. 
11
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)

12
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. 
13
In practice Designs, benefits, and challenges

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

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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

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Results from multiple approaches

• Investigator-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-authors
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).
16
Challenges

• Moving beyond the superficial constructs and
  contrasts
• Understanding or eliciting elements needed for
  the most effective/illuminating sorting process

17
The Rep Test and Other Sorting Tasks in ILS
Research

• Phillip M. Edwards and Amy VanScoy
• phillip.m.edwards, vanscoy_at_unc.edu
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• School of Information and Library Science
• CB 3360, 100 Manning Hall
• Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
• Slides will be available via http//www.unc.edu/h
  ome/pmedward/