Lance, Keith Curry, Marcia J. Rodney, and Christine Hamilton-Pennell. "Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners: The Illinois Study." . 18 Feb 2005. Illinois School Library Media Association, Web. 19 Jan 2010. http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/illinoisstudy/TheStudy.pdf. Data from a 2003 study of 657 Illinois schools shows that when elementary and middle school library staff spend more time identifying materials for teachers, scores on the Illinois Scholastic Aptitude Test (ISAT) are significantly higher in reading and writing. For elementary students, there was a 7.6% increase in meeting or exceeding standards in reading and a 9.5% increase in meeting or exceeding standards in writing. For middle school students, the increase in reading was 6.6% and in writing was 13%. The authors of this study took into account time spent undertaking specific tasks such as a minimum of three hours per week identifying relevant materials for teachers. The authors conclude that when school librarians are in close collaboration with teachers in identifying and selecting relevant curricular material student achievement in both reading and writing significantly increase. This is one of many similar studies done in several states. In each study, differences exist in approaches to data collection and analysis. For example, a 2009 study of New York’s School Libraries focused not only on achievement, but on student motivation. Phase II of this New York study looked at a representative sample of a combined 1,600 classroom teachers, students, and school media specialists from 47 schools. Data in this study reveals a relational and perceptional aspect to student motivation and achievement by analyzing surveys, comments, and statistical data provided by teachers, students, and media specialists.

Nahyun, K., & Gregory, V. (2007). The Effects of Librarians' Behavioral Performance on User Satisfaction in Chat Reference Services. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 47(2), 137-148. Data from a 2007 study on how the behaviors of reference librarians affect user satisfaction on the online chat reference service of 33 regional and branch libraries at Broward County Library in Florida shows that user satisfaction was significantly higher when librarians engaged in "RUSA Guidelines for Behavioral Performance of Reference and Information Service Providers." The researchers found that when six out of 10 RUSA behaviors( use of patron name, listening, searching, offering pointers, asking if questions were answered, asking patrons to return) were used in the 422 chat reference transcripts, users reported a higher level of satisfaction. The authors conclude that this does show that the suggested behaviors are affective in positively influencing user satisfaction in online reference service. This data might also be useful in looking at user satisfaction in other areas of online reference services such as email a librarian and text a librarian services that are becoming more and more popular. Data in this study reveals that librarian behaviors can influence on user satisfaction even in an electronic environment.

Weaver, David H., & Wilhoit, G. Cleveland (1997). Financial Insecurity. Quill, 2, 387-397. Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu/pqdweb/ ProQuest The authors state that women are not given the training and environment needed to gain access to the same upper level management positions that their male counter parts hold. Many of the women examined in the article, through personal interviews, have combated this by starting their own businesses and becoming self employed. Self employment allowed these women to excel and form their own professional environment for success. This fact supports the authors conclusion, that because of lack of training and environment, women do not gain access to upper level management positions. This relates to my topic because I am examining the wage gap that exists between men and women. While the article does not deal with wages, per say, it helps to set up the premises that women in lesser management positions make considerably less than their male counter parts in upper level management. The research gathered, through personal interviews, shows that the traditional professional environment, does not allow women to receive the resources or environment that they need to excel into upper level management positions.

Linda- I like your choice of article. I think from the synopsis you have given us, I would classify this as qualitative data, as it seems to deal more with impressions and interview observations(I may be wrong here, just my impression:-)than numbers and measurements. I wonder if data from this study could be applied to how education differs for women than men, particularly higher education.

Do changes in spousal employment status lead to domestic violence? Insights from a prospective study in Bangalore, India Social Science & Medicine, Volume 70, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 136-143 Suneeta Krishnan, Corinne H. Rocca, Alan E. Hubbard, Kalyani Subbiah, Jeffrey Edmeades, Nancy S. Padian The authors interview 744 married women in Bangalore, India three times each over a 24 month period. The study measured domestic violence in relation to the wife's employment status and the husband's employment stability. The study found that women who became newly employed from one interview to the next had 80% higher odds of suffering violence compared to those who remained unemployed. Women whose husbands had newly experienced employment instability had 1.7 times the odds of violence. The authors conclude that one factor in domestic violence by men is a perceived threat to their social role as dominant provider. This would be relevant to a study on the impact of social status or prestige on domestic violence. The data in this study suggest that negative changes in social status lead to increased odds of domestic violence

Wood, Deanna (1999). Librarians and unions: Defining and protecting professional values. Education Libraries, 23(1), 12-16. This study presents data on union membership; from 1983 through 1996, the number of American workers covered by union contracts has declined from 23.3% to 16.2% of American workers, while the percentage of professional librarians, archivists, and curators covered by a collective bargaining contract rose from 25.6% in 1986 to 30% in 1991 and 32.7% in 1996. The authors conclude that these statistics speak to three values that we as librarians hold: collective and cooperative decision making, academic and intellectual freedom, and the right of due process. The article could be relevant to research on the connections between library unionization and the experiences of library users. Data in this study shows numerous connections between unionization and day-to-day library operations.

LaJmar- I like your article too. I find the whole “virtual” reference services concept very interesting. I believe that your article contains qualitative date using numbers instead of an open ended survey interview process to gather research data. Another kind of data that might be relevant to the research is that that pertains to Instant Messenger services that quite a few libraries are using. This date might also be relevant to research that is conducted by libraries that are looking offer virtual services to their patrons.

Whitney – Your article appears to use quantitative date. It uses method that allow for statistical date to be produced. Employment practices and working conditions, in libraries, might be relevant to this research because unionization is sometimes brought into play because or working conditions and employment practices.

Eric – I find your article very interesting in regards that it deals with domestic violence on a global level and not just the national level that we hear about every day. I would say that the article uses qualitative date in that it uses an interview process to collect date for analysis. It also appears to use the data that is collected to indentify major and minor issues, relating to domestic violence in India. The researchers that published the article seem to have a back ground in gathering information on domestic violence.

Brian – This date might be relevant to studies that are used to gauge childrens learning environments in public school systems. Other date that might be looked at and compared is date that deals with schools that do not have collaboration between library staff and teachers. Do teachers that pick their own materials for curriculum have the same or different results in reading and comprehension? The date that was collected appears to be quantitative data. Information gathered was used for statistical analysis of the subject matter.

Lajmar- I suppose taking this idea a step in a different sort of direction would be to look at the data regarding the chat application itself and user satisfaction with the technical aspects of that application. After all, no matter how good the librarian is, if the mechanism by which we're communicating is flawed, the services offered will suffer. I am using your post to assess quantitative versus qualitative characteristics in an effort to understand that piece better (I am NOT a numbers person at all). It is obviously quantitative, in part, but could it also be qualitative? The term "behaviors" in itself, as part of the study, doesn't lend itself to being quantitative research. I'm obviously still trying to figure all of this out!

Linda - Definitely qualitative given that in this instance the interviews seem to have the most importance for the survey itself. Of course, a comparison of salaries for men and women of equal education and skills in similar positions would be a quantitative approach and analysis of this topic. Another relevant piece of data might take a look at genders of whomever is making salary and wage decisions for upper management positions and how that gender makeup affects salaries. For example, do predominantly female boards of directors statistically appoint a more equitable salary to both men and women? I'm also curious, as a teacher, about the lack of training for women that is mentioned in your post for this study. Why is it that women receive a lack of training as compared to men? Where does that inequality in training begin and is it quantifiable data?

Eric- Another tricky one for me as far as qualitative or quantitative data. Quantitative for certain in that the odds were 80% higher for suffering domestic violence and a husband's employment instability increased the odds of violence by 1.7 times. However, the cultural influences surrounding this study make me think that it cannot possibly be purely quantitative. The affects of culture and society on this study are purely qualitative (unless, of course, I'm way off on understanding these - which wouldn't surprise me at all). Similar studies in other cultures would be a relevant addition to this particular study. I'm curious as to what the numbers might be in a more matriarchal culture.

Whitney - It would be very interesting to see how this quantitative study's numbers have changed given the economic turmoil our country has endured since 1996. Do tough economic times result in higher union membership? How does unionization change the financial stability librarians (and libraries) in tough economic times? In personal experience, I can only compare this to professional sports and the fact that "unionization" (in many leagues the unions are very atypical) is often mentioned as pushing leagues to the brink of economic failure. I find this incredibly interesting!

Brian, I completely agree; I think it's an interesting question (how tough economies impact union membership); especially when you look, as this study does, at unionization as a result of values. If we were to find that union rates rose more than average during the tough economy, would that correlate to a shift in professional values, or could that data refute Wood's premise and reveal union membership to be most closely correlated to financial factors, independent of professional values? Now I just hope this class teaches me to answer these questions. *lol*