QUALITY ASSURANCE IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION STUDIES THESISDISSERTATION

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION STUDIES THESIS/DISSERTATION RESEARCH SUPERVISION Being a Paper Presented at THE 18 TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN ASSOCIATION OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE EDUCATORS (NALISE), UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, 9 -13 MAY, 2013 BY Vincent E. Unegbu Babcock University, Ogun State

INTRODUCTION • The proliferation of universities in Nigeria has made it a herculean task to produce enough lecturers to supervise students’ projects • Universities may compromise by using unqualified staff • Supervisors pay less attention to candidates’ disorders, produce substandard research, look for unmerited favors, pay less attention to the nittygritty of supervision, unconcerned if research is completed at the stipulated time, Compromise quality

Quality Assurance; Supervision? Quality assurance (QA) is a means to ensure that expected results are achieved QA is a series of checks and balances put in place to ensure that quality is maintained in a proposed area of interest Supervision is an activity that involves two or more individuals – a supervisor(s) and a supervisee(s

What is RESEARCH? • Araoye (2004: 5) defined research as “the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data to answer a certain question or solve a problem. ” • This definition entails data collection and analysis and interpretation of the analysis • Research has a prefix re and a suffix search; this means that research is a repeated search

To Ensure Quality of Research, Stages of Research Must be Followed The stages of research include: • Project design and proposal development • Subject recruitment - participants • Data collection & Data management • Data analysis and interpretation • Reporting and dissemination • To ensure quality of the research outcome, the supervisor has to ensure compliance to rules and regulations at each stage of the research

CHAPTER ONE IN A 5 CHAPT THESIS INTRODUCTION OF THE WORK Discuss with supervisee (s) Chap 1 Outline & Involvement Background to the study Statement of the problem Objectives of the Study Research questions and hypotheses • Scope of the Study • Significance of the study • Operational Definition of Terms • •

CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review • Literature Review is not • A theoretical framework book review is a collection of theories and models from the • It is a review of relevant literature which underpin researched publications in a research study your research area • Theories show where a • Appraisal of reviewed research attaches itself; literature where a particular • Gap in literature research is associated identified which your • Conceptual framework – research will fill diagrammatical flow of variables

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY v. Research design v Study population v Sampling technique v. Sample size v. Research Instrument v. Test of the instrument for validity and reliability, v. Data analysis methods.

Chapter 4: Data analysis, results and discussion of findings • In some institutions, discussion of findings is done alongside the data interpretation • Six important subheadings in this chapter include: • Questionnaire return rate • Demography of respondents • Data analysis based on the questions raised from the objectives • Test of hypotheses • Discussion of findings • Implication or interpretation of findings

Chapter 5 & Auxiliary Pages Chapter 5 • Summary, conclusion and recommendations • Brief summary of the work • Conclusion on the findings • Recommendations made based on the findings not on extraneous imaginations • Limitations to the study • Recommendations for further research Auxiliary Pages Appendices Include: • Research questionnaire, Ethical approval, Letter for data collection and Documents mentioned in the body of the research but not elaborated • References • Preliminary Pages: Table of Content, Tables, Figures, Dedication, Acknowledgement etc.

ASSURANCE OF QUALITY THROUGH (10) Ø COMPLIANCE AT EACH OF THE 5 STAGES ØEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK ØNO MAN ISLAND ØCONTROL YOUR NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

ASSURANCE OF QUALITY CONTD. v UPGRADE YOURSELF v BE AVAILABLE v BE FAMILIAR WITH THE FIELD OF RESEARCH v DISCOURAGE PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC FRAUD v. Plagiarism is the act of using someone’s intellectual property in an unlawful manner v. Academic fraud is intentional misrepresentation of what has been done

ASSURANCE OF QUALITY CONTD. Remaining 2 of the 10 ü BITE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN CHEW: Supervision is a painstaking assignment that needs time, patience, concentration and thoroughness. Five supervisees at a time ü NEEDED QUALIFICATION TO SUPERVISE: It is advisable that Ph. D holders supervise postgraduate students, more so if the candidates are Ph. D candidates. Not only should Ph. D holders supervise, they must have been three years post Ph. D. Some universities use years of experience to appoint supervisors

IDIOSYNCRACIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Definition: IDIOSYNCRACY : 1. A peculiarity of constitution or temperament 2. An individualizing characteristic or quality 3. Individual hypersensitiveness (as to a drug or food) 4. Characteristic peculiarity (as of temperament) 5. Idiosyncrasy has to do with people’s behavior sometimes unknown to him or unrecognized by him q Things people do unconsciously that affect their relationship with others. q Idiosyncrasy can equate with mannerism which is an “exaggerated or affected adherence to a particular style or manner” q Mannerism is a “characteristic and often a conscious mode or peculiarity of action, bearing or treatment” (Webster, 2000) q Mannerism could be a formed habit with constant practice. It could be impulsive

DEFINITION OF ETHICS • Ethics has to do with morality and matters of right and wrong and it guides one’s conduct • According to ALRC (2001), ethics is an accumulation of values and principles that address questions of what is good or bad in human affairs. Ethics searches for reasons for acting or refraining from acting; for approving or not approving conduct; for believing or denying something about virtuous or vicious conduct or good or evil rules

Supervisor: Issues to Avoid 1. Money Manic Compromises quality Poor students suffer and graduation delayed Prestige and integrity marred Excessive defense of the student Students emulate evil

Supervisor: Issues to Avoid 2. NON-MONETARY GRATIS: Whatever will tarnish the image of the supervisor should be avoided 3. SEXUAL HARRASMENT Demanding sexual intercourse in other to do what is required of you Refuse and not graduate

Supervisor: Issues to Avoid contd 4. Filthy Environment HYGIENE is important Bath, brush your teeth, wash your clothes, and make your hair No litering! 5. IMPATIENCE IQ is not the same. Be patient with each of your students

Supervisor: Issues to Avoid contd 5. CONTROL OF TEMPER Supervision is not fighting Human beings are born with different temperaments 6. RETALIATION: IT TOOK ME 10 yrs THEREFORE …

8. ASSURANCE OF VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY TESTS Ø Validity is the ability of a study to measure what the researcher intends to measure Ø Reliability test is a technical analytical manipulation. Statisticians know best

CONCLUSION • Quality assurance in dissertation research supervision is not a raw egg that should be handled with care but a giant viper that should be pursued with a sledge hammer • The product of a research work is equal to the effort put in producing it • 2 points at stake: 1. Assurance that the student has done all the rudiments of research, and (2) Assurance that the supervisor comes out not indenting his/her image

THANKS TO NALISE THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY MAY GOD BLESS OUR NOBLE ASSOCIATION