RESEARCH METHODS

AND STATISTICS
, IN EDUCATION
_.... _~~r----- .oa

Second Edition

Edited by
Uchenna Udeani Ph.D
Research Methods and
Statistics in Education
Second Edition

Edited by

Uchenna Udeani, Ph.D.

c,ibon Books Limited

Lagos • Owerri
Published by

Sibon Books Limiled

email: [email protected]
[email protected]
Tel: 08033353220

© Uchenna Udeani, 2010, 2021.

First published, 2010

Second Edition, 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the editor.

ISBN 978-978-58584-6-4

Cover concept by Paul Usoro

 Contents

Dedication........................................................................................... vii
Acknowledgements............................................................................... viii
Contributors. ix
Preface................................................................................................. xiii
Foreword xv

PART ONE
Chapter One: Conceptualizing the Research Process.......................... 3
Chapter Two: Library: Information Resources and Research 21
Chapter Three: Reviewing the Literature 48

PART TWO
Chapter Four: Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed
Methods Research........... 69
Chapter Five: Types of Research Designs 82
Chapter Six: Population, Sample and Sampling Techniques 104
Chapter Seven: Development of Research Instruments 120

PART THREE
Chapter Eight: Basic Descriptive Statistics.......................................... 153
Chapter Nine: Measures of Central Tendency.................................... 173
Chapter Ten: Measures of Variation 197
Chapter Eleven: Measures of Correlation and Regression 216
Chapter Twelve: Inferential Statistics 237

PART FOUR
Chapter Thirteen: Preparing the Research Report.. 271

Index 276

v
 Contributors
(in alphabetical order)

Adewara, Ademola Johnson, Ph.D.

Ademola Johnson Adewara is a Professor of Statistics at the Distance
Learning Institute (DLI), University of Lagos, Akoka. He holds a Ph.D.
degree in Statistics from the Federal University of Agriculture,
Abeokuta, Nigeria. His areas of specialization include Statistical Process
Control or Quality Control, Total Quality Management, Quality
Assurance in Distance Education and Data Analysis.

Adeyemo, Sunday Adeniyi, Ph.D.

Sunday Adeniyi Adeyemo is a Professor of Physics Education in the
Department of Science and Technology Education, University of Lagos,
Akoka. He has taught Research Methods and Statistics at both the
undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the University of Lagos for
over a decade.
Professor Adeyemo has more than 70 publications in both local and
international journals over the past seventeen years. He belongs to
various associations such as Science Teachers Association of Nigeria and
the National Association of Physics Educators (NAPE). He is the current
Head of Department of Science and Technology Education, University
of Lagos, Akoka.

Akhigbe, Jeremiah Nosakhare

Akhigbe, Jeremiah Nosakhare is an Assistant Lecturer and a doctoral
researcher in the Department of Science and Technology Education,
University of Lagos. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Ed. in Biology Education
from the University of Lagos, Akoka. He endears the personal
philosophy of advancing and using educational research as a tool for
national development and social inclusion. He has over the years
distinguished himself as a scholar with research interests in inclusive
science curriculum development, teacher training, integrated STEM
education, learning designs and technology enhanced learning. He is
presently a peer reviewer for two international journal publishers and
has published in both national and international referred journals.

IX
Awofala, Adeneye Olarewaju Adeleye, Ph.D.
Dr Adeneye Awofala is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Science
and Technology Education, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos,
Akoka. He obtained his Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) in
Mathematics and Biology from Tai Solarin College of Education and
Bachelor of Education degree in Teacher Education/Mathematics/
Economics from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. He was the best
graduating student in his set. He was awarded both the Federal
Government of Nigeria Merit Award for Academic Distinction in
Teacher Education and the Ransome Kuti Award for Academic
Distinction in Teacher Education from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
in the 1998/1999 session.
Dr Awofala obtained his master's degrees in Teacher Education
(specializing in Mathematics Education) and Pure Mathematics
(specializing in Functional Analysis) from the University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, in 2003 and 2006, respectively, and Ph.D. in Mathematics
Education from the same university in 2010.
Dr Awofala specializes in teaching and learning of Mathematics and
the use of research to improve the quality of teaching and learning in
schools. He has published widely in both national and international
journals with over 80 publications to his credit.

Okiki, Olatokunbo Christopher (CLN) Ph.D.

Dr Olatokunbo Christopher Okiki is a Librarian at the University of
Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria. He is head of the Automation Unit in the
University of Lagos Library, a unit that coordinates ICT infrastructure
and electronic information resources. He doubles as the coordinator of
Institutional Repository OR).
Dr Okiki obtained his B.A. (Hons), MLS and Ph.D., all from the
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. His research interest covers, but
not limited to, Information Literacy Skills, Digitization, Information and
Knowledge Management, Information Service Environment, ICT
Application/Deployment in library and Emerging Technologies. He is a
member of Nigeria Library Association (NLA) and a member of the
university committee on Webometric, Servicom, Environmental
Evidence Synthesis Knowledge Translation (EESKT) and Open
Educational Resources. He has authored several articles in reputable
national and international journals. He has also made oral presentations
of his research at both national and international conferences.

x
 Two
Library: Information Resources
and Research

Olutokumbo Christopher Okiki, Ph.D.

Automation Unit, University Library,
University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria

WHAT WE HOPE TO ACHIEVE

Going through this chapter, we should be able to:

• explain the concept of library and its resources;

• describe types of library resources;
• describe how information resources can support research;
• explain types of reference services and sources;
• describe the search strategy as it relates to research activities;
• explain the reference style and concept of plagiarism;
• learn how to engage with information sources, paraphrase and
avoid plagiarism.

INTRODUCTION
The chapter discusses the concept of the library and its resources. It
further explains the different types of information sources in relation to
research activities and also addresses reference services and types of
reference materials. It deals with the search technique, referencing
style, the concept of plagiarism and how to avoid it. Each of the
essential items discussed in this chapter is directly linked to education
research activities.

CONCEPT OF UBRARY
The library is a crucial learning hub in the development of man at any
level, and more particularly, in any academic pursuits. Time is
invaluable in any research, hence, it is pertinent to know how to quickly
and precisely locate what you want in the library. The concept and
availability of information resources have reached ari exponential rate,
thus requiring properly organized library resources for students,
scholars and researchers, to easily and speedily meet their information
needs.
21
22 Research Methods and Statistics ill Education

The purpose of establishing libraries has been changing over time as

services become more faceted and multifarious. Modern libraries are
not just the institutions/buildings/v\,arehouses or stores of material.
They are agents of educational, social, economic and political change.
Hence, the library is entrusted with the acquisition, organization,
preservation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information in
whatever format it might appear.

LIBRARY AND THE RESEARCH PROCESS

When undertaking a research, there are various library information
resources that are available for use. Each of these resources serve
specific purpose. The onus is on the researcher to first identify the focus
of the research so as to guide in selecting appropriate information and
data for quality research outcome. In line with research activity, library
resources are captured either in print or non-print format which support
research activities and other personal information needs. Print materials
include books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, government
documents, ancient writings and materials. Non-print items include
internet resources, electronically-reproduced books, digitized articles
from journals, films, disc records, slides, audiotapes, videotapes and
computer software. This chapter looks into both online and offline
information sources to guide your research activities.

INFORMATION SOURCES
An information source might inform a researcher about current
developments or provide recent knowledge to topical issues to establish
gaps and needs. Information source could be primary, secondary and/or
tertiary sources depending on what the research is about. In simple
term, primary sources provide a researcher with first-hand information
that is authoritative and considered to represent original thinking,
reports on discoveries or events, or sharing of new information. A
secondary source of information is based on primary sources. In
scholarship, a secondary source is a document or recording that
interprets and analyzes primary sources. Tertiary sources consist of
information based on primary and secondary sources.
In summary, different research assignments require input from a
variety of sources. Therefore, a researcher needs to understand where
to find specific types of information.
 Library: Information Resources and Research 23

Comparison Across the Sources

Subject Primary Secondary Tertiary

Art and Painting by Ben Article critiquing Encyclopaedia article
Architecture Enwonwu Ben Enwonwu's about "Enwonwu"
painting
Physical Isaac Newton Biography of Isaac Dictionary entry on
Sciences interview Newton "Theory of zravirv"
Life Sciences Journal article Magazine article Summary of the
describing explaining journal magazine article in
original research article online database
Humanities Love letters by Website on Encyclopaedia on "The
Shakespeare Shakespeare" facts of Shakespeare's
writings life."
Social Notes taken by a Magazine article Textbook on medical
Sciences! psychologist on psychological psychology
Education conditions
Performing Movie filmed in Review of the Internet movie;
Arts. 1942. movie. databases entry on the
movie.

TYPES OF LIBRARY RESOURCES

It should be clearly stated that library resources come from multiple
sources. The researcher's primary concerns should address the following
questions: What type of materials will help the proposed or ongoing
. research? What are the sources? What types of sources are available at
your disposal or in your university library? When is it relevant to use an
article, encyclopaedia or magazine article in research?
The above questions will be attended to at the end of this section
and you will be able to identify various sources and their specific uses.

Information Types
Books

Information Research Use

Books cover virtually any topic, fact To search for lots of information on a topic
or fiction
To put your topic in context with other
For research purposes, look for important issues
books that synthesize all the
information on one topic to support To find biographical information
a particular argument or thesis.
To find summaries of research to support
an argument.
24 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

Reference Sources

Information Research Use Examples

Encyclopaedias are collections When doing scholarly Encyclopaedias
of short, factual entries often research
written by different Handbooks
contributors who are To know what has been
knowledgeable on the topic studied on your topic Dictionaries

There are two types of To find bibliographies that Manuals

encyclopaedias: general and point to other relevant
subject. General research Statistical sources
encyclopaedias provide
overviews concisely on a wide To get background
variety of topics. Subject information on an issue or
encyclopaedias contain in- topic
depth entries focusing on one
To get statistical
field of study.
information

To get leads to other

sources (bibliographies).

Academic Journals (peer-reviewed or scholarly journals)

Information Research Use Examples

Collection of When carrying out scholarly Olamilekan, A. (2014). A
articles usually research, you need to perusal, analyses on Boko
written by determine what has been Haram crisis in Northern
scholars in an studied on your topic to Nigeria. Journal of Education
academic or establish a gap and Human Development, 3(2),
professional field 361-380.
It can also be used to find
Articles in bibliographies that point to Adeyemi, B. (2010). Teacher-
journals tend to other relevant research. related factors as correlates of
cover particular pupils' achievement in Social
topics or narrow A researcher is not Studies in South-Western
fields of expected to cite material Nigeria. Electronic Journal of
research. below ten years in Research in Educational
literature. Psychology, 8(1).

Databases

Information Research Use Examples

A database contains citations of When you want to EBSCOhost
articles in magazines, journals, and find articles on your Sabinet
 Library: Information Resources and Research 25

newspapers. Some databases contain topic in magazines, Emerald

abstracts or summaries of the items, journals or news- ScienceDirect
while other databases control papers Jstor
complete, full-text articles.

Magazines

Information Research Use Examples

A magazine is a collection of articles and The use of a Time,
images about diverse topics of Magazine in Newsweek,
widespread interest and current events. research is to find National
Usually, these articles are written by information on Geographic
journalists or scholars and are geared general views or
toward the average adult. up-to-date
Magazines may cover very "serious" information
material, but you should use journals to about the current
find consistent scholarly information. concept.

Newspapers

Information Research Use Examples

A newspaper is a collection Newspaper can be used in Daily Times
of articles about current research to find current Punch
events usually published information about international, Guardian
daily national and local events Tribune

Newspaper articles are Also, a researcher may need to find

current happenings, and they editorial information,
are a good source for local commentaries, expert or popular
information or content. opinions in their area of research.

Library Catalogue

Information Research Use Example

Traditional A library catalogue is an Find out the Card
Catalogue organized and searchable materials your catalogue
collection of records of library has about
UNlLAG
Online every item in a library and your research topic
OPAC
Public can be found on the library
http://libr
Access home page. To find out where
arydb.unil
Catalogue The catalogue points you to the specific material
ag.edu.ng
COPAC). the location of a particular within the library
/newgenli
source within the library holdings are
bctxt/Hom
holding. located.
e?Id=1.
26 Research Methods and Statistics ill Education

Internet

lnionnation Research Use Examples

The Web allows you to access To find current information Internet
information on the Internet Explorer
through a browser. One of To find information about
the main features of the Web companies Google
is the ability to link to other Chrome
related information quickly. To find information from all
The Web contains levels of government-federal to Mozilla
information beyond plain local Firefox
text, including sounds,
images, and video. To see both expert and popular Safari
The critical thing to do when opinions
using the information on the Opera.
Internet is to know how to To find information about
evaluate it! hobbies and personal interests.

Some Open Access Resources

Name Covercze Url

Data.gov It covers government datasets on https://www.data.g
various topics, including business, ov/
education, energy, health, local
government and science
Harvard Harvard's Institute for Quantitative https://dataverse.ha
Dataverse Social Sciences rvard.edu/
IPUMS IPUMS provides census and survey https://ipums.org!
data from around the world integrated
across time and space
Nation Master A central data source that compares https://www.nation
nations from such sources as the CIA. master.com/
World Factbook, UN and OECD
OECD iLibrary OECD iLibrary is the online library of https://www.oecd-
the Organization for Economic ilibrary.org/
Cooperation and Development,
featuring its books, papers and
statistics and is the gateway to OECD's
analysis and data. You may search by
country
Open Access A list of repositories and databases for http://oad.simmons
Directory open data .edu/oadwiki/Data -
(OAD) Data repositories
Repositories
J-PAL Administrative data are collected, used https://www.poverty
Administrative and stored primarily for organizational actionlab.org/catalog
 Library: Information Resources and Research 27

Data Sets (i.e., operational) rather than research -adrninistrative-data-

purposes sets
UNdata UN statistical databases are available http.z /data.un.org/
through a single entry point. Users can
now search and download various
statistical resources of the UN system
World Bank Data: Multidisciplinary https://databank.w
DataBank orldbank.org/horne.
aspx
World Bank Data: Multidisciplinary hi rps.z'/ datacata log. \V
Data Catalogue orldbank.orz/
World Bank Free and open access to global https://data.worldb
Open Data development data ank.org/
USAID Data: Multidisciplinary https://data.usaid.g
Development ov/
Data Library
UNESCO Monitoring the situation of children http://data.uis.unes
Institute for and women co.org/
Statistics
Nigerian National data: Multidisciplinary. https://www.nigeri
National anstat.gov.ng/
Bureau of
Statistics.

Research and Reference Services

Reference services in any library are the services provided by the
reference department. This section helps researchers to get the
information they require, assist in accessing it and promptly too. Kumar
(2010) succinctly captures the role of reference service in helping
establish contact between a user and the relevant material at the right
time, thereby saving the user's time.

What is a Reference Service?

As far back as 1876, Green, in his work titled, Personal Relationship
between Librarians and Readers, published by the American Library
Journal, identifies four components of reference service, namely,

1. Instruct the reader in the ways of the library;

11. Assist the reader in solving information inquiries;
iii. Aid the reader in the selection of suitable work;
iv. Promote the library within the community.

This identification highlights that the first point of call for a researcher
is the reference desk/librarian with respect to information needs. In this
section, information resources are only consulted within the library
28 ·Research Methods and Statistics in Education

walls and used to provide reference services. The reference resources

include encyclopaedias, dictionaries, maps, atlases, bibliographies,
biographies, almanacs, gazetteers and directories. Due to advance in
technology, reference services have also gone virtual. However, the
deployment of technology now allows users to submit their queries
from any place in the world to the library through the library websites.
Reference services vary from library to library, and they can be
provided online via e-mail or by placing a telephone call or manually
(in-person) .

Need for Reference Service in Research

The need for reference service in research cannot be underestimated as
users need to access information sources quickly, accurately and
reliably without plagiarizing and violating copyright law. The needs are
as follows:

i. access to accurate and reliable information on a database;

ii. access to journal articles related to the research;
iii. access to e-books and print books relevant to the research;
iv. assistance from the reference librarian to search for literature
relevant to the research;
v. brief explanation concerning the research work;
vi. update information on the researcher's area of interest, and
vii. improve researcher's information search knowledge to easily
find relevant information during literature search.

Web-Based Library Reference Services

Virtual Library Tours
Generally, all library websites provide virtual library guide to the
physical library facilities, such as collections of both available print!
non-print materials and services in the library. The essence of this is to
provide a panoramic view of library resources to save the time of its
users.

Ask-A-Librarian
Ask-A-Librarian services are internet or website-based question and
answer services which enable users to connect with a librarian while
conducting precision searches or in urgent need of any material. Library
users are requested to fill out their queries using available online
question forms and submit same once completed online. A librarian at
the receiving end reviews and responds to the user's query through the
user's mail account or any means of contact as spelt out on the web
services.
 Library: Information Resources and Research 29

User Education
Virtually all the academic library websites provide impactful user
education and training on the basic library skills and a glossary of
library terms on how to use Library OPAC and locate books on the
shelves, magazines, biographical data and other library materials.

Information Literacy
The essence of this section is to familiarize researchers with the library
resources users' skills in accessing library materials. A researcher needs
to combine critical concepts of a search query in a database to retrieve
accurate results. Each of the scholarly database works in different but
similar ways. The researcher may need to develop several search
strategies to cover different research variables.

DEVELOPING SEARCH STRATEGY

There are steps required when developing a comprehensive search
strategy for a systematic search. To come up with a search strategy, the
researcher will need to:

1. define and write down the specific research question: what is it

that researcher wants to work on?
2. identify and keep a record of keywords, terms and phrases;
3. identify keyword synonyms, use database Thesauri or subject
headings;
4. determine a timeframe from the research, if needed.

Keywords and Search Strategy

It is difficult to find everything you need as a researcher in one search;
hence, the need to try different words and search strategies and
different library search tools such as the public catalogue, OPAC,
databases, etc.

Searching with Keywords

Keywords are the essential words in your research title. For example, in
the title, "Is Quality Education Contributing to Economic Develop-ment
in Nigeria?", the keywords are: "Quality Education", "Economic
Development", "Nigeria". In so manner, you may think of other words
or phrases (synonyms) related to your title.
The following is a screenshot of keyword search through the
University of Lagos search engine:
30 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

=- 0.00
rJl Uest --..
Uruwnlty of Lagos 111
';J
-
•

The following is a screenshot of the result of the above query:

-= P roQ uest """"••,""''''

University of Lagos 0
e...., 5011d1 AdYanc:td 5011d1 PubilCOtiOns Brow.. Dat.ba••• (3)

'Quality Education' Nigeria

1,521results
Applied filters 5oKll·20
Clear a fl"'"
Ach eVlng ().Ilny EducailOO by UndPfSlandlng Teachtr Job Sallsfaclloo DelPfmtnan s
t.••• y Chur ~,st. tchu tVU On)'6wtl'! Eztuduil lwu keb... u Ken«ht...cwu Robert,.
,tl Chlmtllf

Kh" 1"'9"
SoaoI 5aonces. e.se! V ' 55 2. 2018 25
e re " br.ry's
~ubscnpt ':.n..': ~'''' of quoIiIy <Wcnon n NirjIna haseomo up ~ a nlJTilft
'"" Jtgn PIflq)Itod 11"00S\~ SPSS sohwlrt YO''''''' 22 was.Sod for
$oned by
•••• , Cnod by 131

l:.valuation of Information Sources

For reliability and quality conn 01, there is need for every user of any
information resources to evaluate the information at their disposal to
determine its appropriateness. Before considering material for research
use, you should determine its timeliness and the importance of the
information. Also, the source, reliability, truthfulness and correctness of
such information resources are vital in information sourcing.

Boolean Operators
All library electronic information resources or databases/search engines
use Boolean Operators to combine keywords in database or search
 Library: Information Resources and Research 31

engine searches. The Boolean Operators use the words AND, OR, NOT
to combine research variables or keywords and broaden or narrow the
search results. Below are graphic examples of how these operators
work:

The use of Boolean Operator,' "AND", will retrieve search results

containing both the variables or keywords, "Globalization" AND
''Human Rights".

OR

The use of Boolean Operator, "OR", will broaden your search results.
Using "OR" will retrieve search results containing either the variables or
keywords, "Globalization" OR "Human Rights".

NOT

Here, the use of Boolean Operator, "NOT", will further narrow your
search results. It implies that using "NOT" will retrieve search results
containing variable or keyword, "Globalization", but excludes search
results containing the other keyword, "Human Rights".
32 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

LIBRARY DATABASES SEARCHING

Library database searching involves searching the databases for journal
articles to teach, learn and research. A database is a collection of updated
online resources, be it e-books or e-journals. Libraries subscribe to a variety
of databases across a variety of subject areas. Researchers can access
articles, e-books, conference proceedings and other research material
suitable for their topic through these databases.
There are different types of information and their sources that can
be found on databases. They include scholarly journal articles, trade
journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, e-books,
standards, company and industry information and many more that
researchers need to access the library database to find.

J
Useful Handy
Abstracts

Meet the Pros

Fig 2.1: Finding scholarly articles and using databases flow

Library Databases
The following are examples of library databases:

JSTORE
JSTOR database has a collection of thousands of high-quality academic
journals and e-books across the humanities, social sciences and sciences.

ScienceDirect
ScienceDirect provides full-text online access to Elsevier journals and e-
books collection in the physical sciences and engineering publications
covering a range of disciplines, from the theoretical to the applied.
 Library: Information Resources and Research 33

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing Limited is a scholarly publisher of academic
journals and books in management, business, education, library studies,
health-care and engineering.

ProQuest Central E-Jouma/

ProQuest Central E-Journal is the largest multidisciplinary full-text
database. This resource provides access to 47 of ProQuest's complete
databases with various content types across over 175 !ubjects, making
this the broadest single research resource in the world.

Pro-Quest Ebook Central

ProQuest Ebook Central is an online digital library of full texts of over
100,000 scholarly e-books. It is available in many academic libraries
and provides online database collections that combine scholarly books
from over 435 academics, trade and professional publishers.

EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost is an intuitive online research platform used by thousands
of institutions and millions of users worldwide. With quality databases
and search features, EBSCOhost is rich in educational resources,
humanities and social sciences.

Finding Books and Articles through Library Databases

Choosing Topic/Title of the Book
A good article starts with a well-defined topic. Brainstorm, narrow or
broaden your topic. Break a topic into keywords or search terms while
searching through title, author or subject catalogues for the research
topic.

Finding Books and Articles

After defining your topic, the next thing is to find books and articles
that will give you the information you need to get started in navigating
the library's article databases and catalogues. The journal search allows
you to search for available journals. If you know the journal title, you
can enter it into the search box. If you are not looking for a specific
journal, you can browse by discipline.

Library (Card) Catalogue

The library makes it a point of duty to provide several print and non-print
resource facilities to its readers' community that uses its collections. One
such facility is the library catalogue which is a tool that enables the user to
know what collections the library has. The catalogue is a list of books and
34 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

other bibliography material available in a library which discloses to the

users the contents of the library holdings.
The library catalogue could be categorized into manual and
electronic formats. There are three types of cards for the manual/
traditional/card catalogue, namely, author card catalogue, title card
catalogue and subject card catalogue. These are briefly explained below.

Author Catalogue
The author catalogue is used when you know the author(s) or editor(s)
of a book.

Title Catalogue
This is used when you know the title of a book.

Subject Card Catalogue (classified catalogue)

This is used when the author or the title of a book is not known or
when you want to search on a specific subject thoroughly.

The classified catalogue is organized in classification number order

(books of the same class number are filed in accession order). This class
number order corresponds to the shelving order.

Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC)

Library information search, retrieval and functions have changed over the
years from the manual catalogue to online public access catalogue (OPAC).
Today, libraries are more proactive in the use of OPAC as it is easy for
researchers to access resources irrespective of location and time.

UNIVERSITY
OFLAOoe
~to _

-
 Library: Information Resources and Research 35

OPAC services help users search for library resources and ascertain
the availability of such material in the library at a given point in time.
The OPAC system is one of the technologies which provide access to
any library records' information. The OPAC page has a search space
where the researcher can search for information through different
access points such as author, subject or title, to retrieve information
resources, class mark and location of the material on the shelf. OPAC's
importance is that users can determine whether the library has the
information resource or not, and information resources can be placed
on reserve. A sample of search result of the OPAC page is illustrated
below:

I DIScu'Slons

S•• rch education Anywher. +

RMorI ••.•• by T»t

Found 12 Results
Discover
" ~ ,..,
Arrtt:: '" hi ll,at n tustor '(

p._
)t j
AuthOtfal· •.. •

.. -
,-ubhher, M.:mIan ~ 2008
1&aN l.tOl1J721!83
caI nurnO.-: •. iUl

,.,
Avw •••• At. 2nd Floor .)0 2no fluor
Av•• w.hty
IIteYMwa CO~)" AdIl,. •••.•.• Renne results by
Sub location
TAQT~~or "IAOdToF
Pr1nI RIc:otdr61 ~.,.. R.o..u- IIIdd 2'1dFIoQI (t2)

CITATIONS AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Citations
Citations provide bibliographic information for the source of material
used when carrying out research activities. The essence is to credit the
source's authorfs) by acknowledging their intellectual contributions.
This act establishes the credibility of your research work. Citation of
other works help or guide readers to other sources on the same research
topic. It also reveals how wide you have researched your work and how
the work fits into the field of study. A proper and full citation saves
from intellectual theft.

Annotated Bibliography
An annotated bibliography is a list of the references used in a research
or paper, and includes a brief paragraph containing a summary or
evaluation of the annotation sources. Each listed citation is followed by
a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph in the research work. The
36 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

main reason for annotation is to inform the reader of the source cited,
its relevance, accuracy and quality, e.g.,

Oyeyemi, Matthew. The wonder book of in human life. John

Wiley & Sons, 2021.
This book covers a wide variety of human life and strategies.
Insightful chapters within the text include "Understanding the
Life," "Using your brain to Achieve Your Indefinable Goals," and
"The Challenge facing the human race."

Reasons for Citing Authority

Citing or documenting the sources of material used whenever you
conduct research is mainly for these three reasons:

a. Acknowledges or gives proper credit to the source or authorfs)

of the ideas or words incorporated into your paper;
b. Provides or allows those reading your work to locate the
material you consulted or used;
c. Allows other researchers to have a better perspective on the
works used in your paper.

Importance of Citations

Giving credit to the original source's author(s)

acknowledges their ideas.

Citing shows that you've done your research.

Citations guide readers to other sources on the

same topic.

Show how your work fits into your field of study.

Taking someone else's words or Ideas as your own can

lead to serious consequences.

Source: Culled from LibGuides at MIT Libraries @ httpsv/lfbguides.mit.edu/citing

 Library: Information Resources and Research 37

Referencing and Citing

Referencing is very vital in academic works. Failure to cite
appropriately amounts to academic fraud. Referencing allows research
work to be put in context.
Citing or acknowledging other people's works show the breadth and
depth of the work. A researcher must reference any research activities
whenever the researcher uses someone else's idea. As a researcher,
whenever you use someone else's intellectual work in your research
work, you must include a citation in the text and the complete reference
at the end of the work. By so doing, the reader of your work will have
enough information on the source you have consulted.
When you quote from or refer to another source of information in
your research work, you simplify by providing a citation to it which will
then lead to a reference giving the full details of the resource.

Purpose of Referencing
The basic purpose of referencing is to support and identify the evidence
you use in your assignments. You direct readers of your work to the
source of evidence. This can be done by presenting (or "citing") either
the source name or identification number in the main text of your work.
The complete source detail is given later, either in a footnote/endnote
or in an alphabetical list at the end of the work, called a bibliography.

Providing Reference Lists and Bibliographies

As you progress in your research work, it is apparent that you have used
other authors' sources or material. Therefore, you are bound to provide
either a reference list or a bibliography at the end of the chapter or
work. A reference list is simply a list of the citations used in the body of
your work. The arrangement of such citations depends mainly on the
referencing style your institution or journal house adopts. Bibliography
is a compilation of all the sources consulted in your research. It may
also include other consulted sources, which may not have been cited in
your work, and arranged alphabetically by the authors' surnames.

Referencing Styles
All referencing styles run the same philosophy of cmng source of
materials used in the text of the research paper or assignment. It may
be with a name or a number. Referencing style is far beyond mere in-
text citation and reference list formatting. There are rules on how to
structure your paper. When it comes to citation styles, there are three
major citation styles used in academic writing, namely, Modern
Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association
38 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

(APA) and Chicago Style which supports two styles: notes and
bibliography.
Whenever you embark on any academic write-up, you are to stick to
an approved referencing style by your institution or journal house. This
will largely be dictated by the discipline in which you are writing on.
We shall discuss the commonly used American Psychological
Association (APA) style.

APA(American Psychological Association)

The American Psychological Association (APA) citation style is widely
used in anthropology, business, communication, education, political
science, psychology and some life sciences. The APA style uses brief in-
text citations that refer to an alphabetical list of references placed at the
end of the work. (The APA 7th Edition Citations Style is explained
below). The reference format differs depending on the type of source
(e.g., book, webpage or video). The components are:

Author: Who is responsible for creating the work?

Date: When was the work published?
Title: What is the work called?
Source: Where can the work be accessed or retrieved?
Reference entry: Author's last name, initial(s), year of publication,
Title of book, Edition (ed.), Place and name of publisher.
In-text citation: Parenthetical (author's last name, year of
publication) .
Narrative: Author's last name (year of publication).

The Author
The author is responsible for creating the intellectual work. This could
be an individual, multiple people, an organization (such as a company,
government agency or workgroup), or a combination of them. The
formats for citing the author are:

Format for single author: The author's name is inverted, starting with
the last name (surname) followed by a comma and a space, and the
initials, separated by a period and/or space. Examples are:

Jones, T.J.
Van der Molen, R.
Brown, A.Z.W., Jr.
Lekan,O.B.
 Library: Information Resources and Research 39

Format for multiple authors: Multiple authors' names should be

separated with commas. An ampersand (&) may be inserted before the
last author's name. If a reference entry contains up to 20 authors, you
are expected to list the first 19 authors, followed by an ellipsis (. .. )
and the last author's name. Examples are:

Andreff, W. & Miller, T.C.

Andreff, W., Turner, S.T. & LaBrode, M.
Staudohar, P.D., Wilson, M.J., Evans, G.L., Kelly, B.B., Turner, R.S.,
Lewis, S.T., Nelson, F., Cox, T.P., Harris, G., Staudohar, H.L.,
Gonzalez, P.D., Hughes, W.L., Carter, W., Campbell, D., Baker, c.,
Flores, A.B., Gray, T, Green, W.E., ... Lee, L.H.

Authors' roles in APA references: If other contributors have a different

role than as "author", it is imperative to describe their roles in a way
(but not always) which should be in parentheses. The table below
shows how and when to provide such a role description.

Source type Role In the reference entry

Book Author Last name, AA.
Editor" Last name, AA. (Ed.)
Film Director Last name, AA. (Director)
Podcast Host Last name, AA (Host)
TV series Executive producer Last name, AA (Executive producer)
Webinar Instructor Last name, AA
Photograph Photographer Last name, AA
Artwork Artist Last name, AA

The Date
The "Date" component appears after the "Author" component. The
following guideline should determine the publication date:
For books, always take the copyright date stated on the imprint
page. For journal articles, take the year in which the volume is
published. You may use the "Last Updated" date for web pages if it
applies to the content you are citing. The date of publication is
presented in parentheses and can take the following forms:

(2020)
(2020, January)
(2020, January 15)
(1997-1999) .
40 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

Title
In the "Title" component, you write the name of the work that you are
citing. This can be the title of a book or a journal (i.e., a stand-alone
work) or a specific article or chapter from that journal or book (i.e., a
part of a greater whole). In the latter case, you need to include two titles.
For a basic format, when citing a stand-alone work, its title appears
in the "Title" component in italic and sentence case, as shown below:

Book (stand-alone work):

Voss, C. & Raz, T. (2017). Never split the difference: Negotiating as if
your life depended on it. Harper Business.
Journal article (part of a larger whole):
Lou, C. & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: How to message
value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on
social media. Journal of Interactive advertising, 19(1), 58-73.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501

YouTube video:
Bloomberg QuickTake (2020, July 1). How to build a city around
bikes, fast Video. YouTube. https:!/youtu.be/h-I6HFQXquU
Unknown title:
If a work does not have a title, describe it in square brackets in the
title's place.
Painting:
Van Gogh, V. (1878-1882). [Portrait of a woman] [Painting].
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Source
In the "Source" component, you include information about where the
work can be retrieved. When citing a stand-alone work, e.g., a book or
webpage, you include the name of the publisher, database, platform, or
website (whichever is relevant to your source) and a digital object
identifier (DOl) or URL.

Edition Information, Volume and Issue Numbers

Books can have different editions, while periodicals (such as journals
and magazines) have volume and issue numbers. This information
appears just after the title. Edition information should be put in
parentheses. But unlike the title, it should not be italicized.
 Library: Information Resources and Research 41

Book:
Coghlan, D. (2019). Doing action research in your organization
(5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Journal article:
Italicize the volume number and place it after the journal title.
The issue number appears after the volume number in
parentheses (not italicized). Do not add a space between the
volume and issue number. An example is:
Evans, N.J., Phua, J., Lim, J. & Jun, H. (2017). Disclosing
Instagram influencer advertising: The effects of disclosure
language on advertising recognition, attitudes, and behavioural
intent. Journal of interactive advertising, 17(2), l38-149.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2017.1366885

Contribu tors
If there are other relevant contributors aside from the author of the
work, you have to cite them. The most common examples are editors of
collections and translators of books in a foreign language. You
introduce contributors with the word, "In", right after the "Title"
component and include a role description in parentheses.

Chapter in an edited book:

Gaffney, D. & Puschmann, e. (2014). Data collection on Twitter. In
Weller, K., Bruns, A., Burgess, J., Mahrt, M. & Pusch mann, e.
(eds.), Twitter and society (pp. 55-67). Peter Lang Publishing.

Page Range of the Work

When citing a part of a greater whole, you may need to provide the
page number or page range of that work. This makes retrieving it
easier. Depending on the type of source, the page numbers are
preceded by "p." or "pp".

Journal article:
Plantin, J.e., Lagoze, C., Edwards, P.N. & Sandvig, C. (2016).
Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google
and Facebook. New Media & Society, 20(1), 293-310.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816661553
Chapter in an edited book:
Belsey, e. (2006). Poststructuralism. In Malpas, S. & Wake, P.
(eds.), The Routledge companion to critical theory (3rd ed., 51-61).
Routledge.
42 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

Publisher, Database, Platform or Website Name

Depending on the type of source, you should include the name of the
publisher, database, platform, or website responsible for distributing
the work.

Blog Post (website):

McCombes, S. (2020, June 19). How to write a problem statement.
Scribbr.https:/ /www.scribbr.com!research-process/problem-
statement!
Book (publisher):
Hetherington, M.J. & Weiler, J.D. (2009). Authoritarianism and
polarization in American politics. Cambridge University Press.
YouTube video (platform):
Vox. (2018, October 17). How IKEA gets you to buy more video
impulsively.
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYKUJgMRQ7A
Physical location:
Some works are related to a specific location, such as artwork in a
museum, studio, or conference presentation. In such cases, the city
and state/country should be included in the reference.
Artwork in a museum:
Dali, S. (1931). The persistence of memory [Painting]. Museum of
Modem Art, New York, NY.
DOl or URL:
Works that can be accessed online typically comes with UR!..
(uniform resource locator) or DOl (digital object identifier).
Online newspaper article:
Wakabayashi, D. (2020, October 21). Google antitrust fight thrusts
low-key CEO into the line of fire. The New York Times.
https:/ /www.nytimes.com!2020/1 O!21!technology / google-
antitrust-sundar-pichai.html.
Journal article:
Cheung, C.M.K. & Thadani, D.R. (2012). The impact of electronic
word-of-mouth communication: A literature analysis and integrative
model. Decision Support Systems, 54(1), 461-470.
https://doi.org/l0.l016/j.dss.2012.06.00§
 Library: Information Resources and Research 43

Paraphrasing
Paraphrasing means expressing ideas or information about someone
else or other sources in your own words while retaining the original
meaning. Paraphrasing is quite different from rearranging and using
synonyms to build the sentence. It generally involves expressing facts in
a layman's understanding without quoting verbatim from the original
text, and with an acknowledgement of the source. Thus, it is valuable to
paraphrase to avoid plagiarism. It helps to break down complex
information into simple language and provide an authorial voice in your
research.

Tips for Paraphrasing

Although paraphrasing can include some key terms from the original
text, changes in the voice of the original text (i.e., active voice to
passive voice and vice versa), use of signalling terms such as "they
write", "She believes that. .. ", "Stone notes that", and signalling verbs
such as "how", "that", "if", are applied so that the use of quotation
marks does not become necessary. Therefore, the following guide can
help in paraphrasing ideas or information without lifting the whole
sentence:

i. Read the original text as many times as you can and get a
complete understanding of the ideas; a dictionary may be
needed to help get the meaning of some key terms;
ii. While reading, ponder over the general meaning of each word,
sentence, paragraph and sections, and then note some critical
key terms in the text;
iii. Write your paragraph or notes without checking the original
text using the key terms;
iv. Compare the paraphrase with the original text making sure it
depicts or retains the meaning/message of the writer;
v. Cite the paraphrase with an in-text citation.

Plagiarism and Copyright

Plagiarism
Plagiarism may be described as an act of citing, quoting or copying
other authors work(s) without due acknowledgement of such author(s)
or source. In academic context, plagiarism refers to an intentional act of
using a work in any scholarly write-up without acknowledging the
author of the work or the source. It has long been of major concern to
the academic community which considers this as a severe infraction
threatening core academic values.
44 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

Various authorities have argued that all imitative learning is

plagiarism because in the course of our research works, we often tend
to use ideas from other sources or authors and craftily present them as
our original ideas. By so doing, we eventually forget where the first
ideas came from or who influenced our thought, thus making
referencing to be difficult, if not impossible, in some situations (Angelil-
Carter, 2000).
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the verb, "to
plagiarize", means "to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another)
as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source".
Therefore, there is need not to quote other people's work verbatim to
avoid plagiarism. First, it is expected of researchers to cite their sources
by indicating that an idea or wording is not their own. Thus,
researchers need to add a citation in their writings that identifies the
full name of the author or source, year of publication and any other
citation element that is required by the style guide being used. The
researcher should put quotation marks in a copied text to denote that
the words are not original to the researcher nor the researcher's exact
words.
Similarly, the researcher is permitted to paraphrase copied texts
from other sources by logically rewording and formatting the texts and
avoiding using too many similar words or phrases from the original
source. Also, as a researcher, it would be best to phrase ideas in your
own words to make them original for you. Finally, you are advised to
use a plagiarism checker to help you resolve issues that bother on
plagiarism before submitting your work.

Copyright
Copyright law implies that the person who creates the work owns the
rights to the work. In research, copyright protection occurs once your
research work is produced in a form that can be copied. When it comes
to using other people's works, you must consider the author's right and
ownership of the said work when using it, and the need to seek
permission to use copyrighted work. As long as you cite the owner or
the source of the material, you have not committed any infraction.
In Nigeria, copyright law is established in the Copyright Act in
Chapter C28 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, and administered
by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCe). The Nigerian Copyright
Act protects literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works, including
cinematography, sound recordings and broadcasting. Copyright gives
the owner exclusive rights to:

i. Reproduce the work;

 Library: Information Resources and Research 45

ii. publish the work in print or electronic form;

iii. perform the work in public, and
iv. communicate to the public and adapt or modify their work.

The copyright owner can transfer any or all the rights to users or a
third party.
Generally, copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the
creator(s) or 70 years after the first publication.
Under the Nigeria Copyright Act, you do not need permission to copy
or use copyright material as long as it is for limited use. However, if you
need to make many copies or copy a large amount of any copyrighted
material, you must seek permission from the copyright holder and cite
the name of the copyrighted work acknowledging the owner of the said
work.

SUMMARY
Despite online resources, the library remains the crucial learning hub in
the development of man at any level and more particularly in any
academic pursuits, although it changes over time, as services become
multifaceted. The library is entrusted with the acquisition, organization,
preservation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information in
different preference formats (printed and non-printed). Libraries
provide facilities to access subscription databases, the internet and
references. The library contributes to realizing the parent institutions'
objectives and supports the total programme by acquiring and making
available books, materials and services that researchers and other
library users need. They provide excellent opportunity for researchers to
access information sources that are quick, accurate and reliable without
plagiarizing and violating copyright law. The libraries assist the
researcher to:

1. access accurate and reliable information on a database;

2. access journal articles related to the research;
3. access e-books and print books relevant to the research;
4. get brief explanation concerning the research work;
5. update information on the researcher's area of interest.

In the library, the reference librarian assists the researcher to search for
literature relevant to the research.
The library provides all these services to the researcher and other
users to assist research, study and learning, and, perhaps, avoid
plagiarism in the research work. Researchers are, therefore, enjoined to
search through some of the databases (Proquest, JStor, Science Direct,
46 Research Methods and Statistics in Education

Emerald, Ebscohost) subscribed to by the university using search

strategies.
Citation and referencing are two vital words that cannot be joked
with, and researchers must, as a matter of obligation, acknowledge any
information sources (primary, secondary or tertiary) used in research
activities. It is obvious that researchers use other people's intellectual
work for research. Therefore, you must give appropriate
acknowledgement or proper credit to the source and author(s) of the
ideas or words incorporated into your paper, thus, enabling readership
to accord credibility and integrity to any research activity.

REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the importance of library resources in research?
2. Discuss the various criteria you would use in evaluating general
reference sources.
3. State the definition of a library catalogue.
4. Discuss the various criteria you would use in evaluating information
resources.
5. Justify the inclusion of fact/opinion sources in your research work.
6. What is the difference between plagiarism and copyright?

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Third World Information Services Limited.
Anjana Bhatnagar (2005). Web-based library services. Third Convention
PLANNER-2005. Assam University, Silchar. Retrieved from
http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in
Chowdhury, G.G. (2002). Digital libraries and reference services: present and
future. Journal of documentation, 58(3), 258-283.
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Bakewell, K.G.B. (1993). A Manual of Cataloguing (2nd ed.). London: Clive
Bingley.
Folorunso, O. & Njoku, E. (2016). Influence of library environment and user
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Nigeria. European scientiJicjournal, 12(19),288-304.
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essential general reference and library science sources: Essential general
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Green S.S. (1876). Personal relations between librarians and readers. American
library journal, I, 74-87.
 Lib/my: Information Resources and Research 47

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essential general reference and library science sources (2014). In Bell
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O'Gorman, J. (ed.) (2014). Reference sources for small and medium-sized libraries
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sized-libraries/docview!2131373570/se-2?account
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