Course description and syllabi (collapsing sections)

Syllabus for IS 262A (Winter 2016)

Data are both process and products of the research enterprise. Increasingly, data are viewed as scholarly products to be managed, shared, and reused. Funding agencies are requiring data management plans as part of grant proposals, journals are requiring the release of data to reviewers and readers alike, and libraries and archives are adding data to their collections. Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in technology, knowledge organization, information policy, and in the research domain.

These two courses (winter and spring) survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy, including the uses of data in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship.

The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and in any domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations.

This is a two-term course. Students taking Part I (winter) are not required to take Part II (spring), but Part I is pre-requisite to Part II.

Syllabus for IS 298A (Fall 2015)

This is the core PhD seminar in research design for the Department of Information Studies, covering a range of social science research methods for studying human behavior. It follows, or is offered concurrently with, 291A, Theoretical Traditions In Information Studies.

Graduate students in Information Studies or related fields (education, communication, public policy, management, psychology, etc.) who have not taken 291A but who have extensive background in epistemology or research methods may enroll with instructor’s permission. Also prerequisite is at least one course in descriptive and inferential statistics.

The course is conducted as a workshop, drawing upon students’ research projects as cases. We will survey quantitative and qualitative research designs and address research ethics and the protection of human subjects. The first week of the course will provide a brief review of epistemological issues, basic concepts of research design, and a refresher in statistical concepts. The course is intended to prepare students for further study on specific methods and to assist in preparation for the PhD qualifying exams.

Students will begin to build their personal libraries on research methods via the course readings. Materials include popular textbooks on social science research methods and the primary publication manual for social science research.

Students will develop a research project and will present an analysis of research reported in a journal article in class.

Syllabus for IS 262A, Part I (Winter 2015)

Data are both process and products of the research enterprise. Increasingly, data are viewed as scholarly products to be managed, shared, and reused. Funding agencies are requiring data management plans as part of grant proposals, journals are requiring the release of data to reviewers and readers alike, and libraries and archives are adding data to their collections. Managing data is a complex process, involving expertise in technology, knowledge organization, information policy, and in the research domain.

These two courses (winter and spring) survey the landscape of data management, practices, services, and policy, including the uses of data in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities; data management practices (e.g., metadata, provenance, technical standards); national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; and data curation, preservation, and stewardship.

The courses are intended for graduate students in information studies and in any domain that requires the management of research data. By bringing together students from across campus, these seminar courses will engage students in practical, professional, and theoretical challenges in the use and reuse of research data. Assignments include analyses of data archives, data management plans, curating data for a research team, and domain-specific activities. Students will work in teams with UCLA researchers and will make class presentations. This is a two-term course. Students taking Part I (winter) are not required to take Part II (spring), but Part I is pre-requisite to Part II.

Syllabus for IS 289, Part I (Winter 2014)
Syllabus for IS 289, Part II (Spring 2014)

Seminar, two to four hours. These two courses (winter and spring) will survey the rich landscape of data practices and services, including data as evidence and their role in research; data-intensive research methods; social studies of data practices; national and international data policy (e.g., intellectual property, release policies, open access, economics); comparisons between disciplines; management of data by research teams, data centers, libraries, and archives; technical standards for data and metadata; and data curation. Part I (winter) lays the foundation for data practices and services across the disciplines. Part II (spring) builds upon this background to provide practical experience in data curation.

One large project will be undertaken across the two terms plus several smaller assignments. The courses will be graded separately. Part I is a pre-requisite for Part II. However, by taking Part I, you are not obligated to take Part II. Letter grading.

Syllabus for IS 291b (Winter 2014)

This is the core course in social science research methods and research design for PhD students in information studies. It follows 291A, Theoretical Traditions In Information Studies. Graduate students in Information Studies or related fields (education, communication, public policy, management, psychology, etc.) who have not taken 291A but who have extensive background in epistemology or research methods may enroll with instructor’s permission. Also prerequisite is at least one course in descriptive and inferential statistics.

The course is conducted as a workshop, drawing upon students’ research projects as cases. We will survey quantitative and qualitative research designs and address research ethics and the protection of human subjects. The first week of the course will provide a brief review of epistemological issues, basic concepts of research design, and a refresher in statistical concepts.

The course is intended to prepare students for further study on specific methods and to assist in preparation for the PhD qualifying exams. Students will begin to build their personal libraries on research methods via the course readings. Materials include popular textbooks on social science research methods and the primary publication manual for social science research. Students will develop a research project and will present an analysis of research reported in a journal article in class. Letter grading.