September 28, 2011

Akin-Little, K., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33(3), 344-344-362. Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/62112959?accountid=10361; http://www.nasponline.org

This article is a meta-analysis.

Gender differences in the strength of association between motivation, competency beliefs and reading skill. Source:

Educational research [0013-1881] Logan yr:2011 vol:53 iss:1 pg:85 -94

Search term: The effectiveness of summer reading programs in public libraries in the United States

This is promising, if I can get my hands on the full text.

September 24, 2011

Yesterday I attended a roundtable discussion with children's librarians from the southeast area of Iowa. The topic of summer programming came up as usual. I am always interested to hear what other libraries are doing and what was successful or not. Each librarian took a turn talking about last summer's program. It was a small group with 6 librarians and 4 libraries represented. It is a small sampling, but everyone agreed that prizes don't work. Having a culminating event like a pool party seemed to be very successful. The thought that I am pondering is, how does the pool party fit into a 'prize' or a 'reward'. Technically, it is a reward, but a group one with social aspects. Does this type of event help reading motivation, or is it just a carrot in disguise? Do the children need to read a specific amount of books to gain entrance or can any reader participate. Our culminating event this summer was a Sundae Sunday. We provided all the 'fixins' for patrons to make a sundae and a caricature artist was there to draw portraits. I am positive no one participated in the SLP just to attend this event. It was not greatly attended. There are many factors why attendance was low; date, time of day, other community activities etc. I don't want to be hung up on stats, but they are an indication of how the word is getting out. This is turning into a ramble. I need to focus on the needs of my community and best practices according to research.

Search terms: reading and intrinsic motivation-LISTA

September 20, 2011

I am knee deep in research with my 5 abstracts for the Distributed Research Group. My topic is "Do physical (extrinsic) incentives work? Research shows that in the long term it does not. This makes me wonder, what is our actual goal with the summer reading program? Are we trying to get kids to read for one particular summer or is our goal loftier? Are we trying to make life long readers? I mentioned this to one of my staff members who is adamant that we should have buckets of small incentives, think Oriental Trading Company. She looked at me like I had two heads. I am just new enough to my job that I still have big goals and dreams. Why do we have to be short sighted with our programs? Yes, I want great statistics, but I want my patrons to gain for the long-term, not just one summer. Because a few staff member's children respond to the small trinkets and ask for them, I am perceived as out of touch with reality. One reason I chose this topic was that it hit so close to home. As a supervisor, I have to weigh the input from my staff, but also implement best practices. If becoming a life-long reader is the goal, then researching what works becomes harder. I look forward to continuing my assignment and gaining more information.

September 10, 2011

September 10, 2011-

The explanation of the different methods of research was really interesting. Not only does this information inform any research that I may take part in, but also, my reading of other’s research. I feel like I have the ‘big picture’ a little better now.
Our state library uses Survey Monkey quite frequently. Each time I have attended a conference or workshop that they have provided a survey appears in my mailbox the next week. While I agree and understand Littleton’s comments in Navigating Pitfalls of Web-Based Survey Development and Administration, about the quality and reliability of Survey Monkey for formal research purposes, it is a useful tool to find out if the attending librarians thought the workshop or session was useful. One reason I think it works is that the survey is directed only to participants and asks 4 or 5 closed ended questions. Littleton is correct, there is ‘survey fatigue’. If I open the survey and it looks like it may take longer than 2 or 3 minutes, I delete it. This is especially true during an election year. Citizens are so bombarded with information, that even if someone shows up at my door for a brief survey, I am inclined to not answer. An interesting survey would be to find out how many surveys a typical person participates in each year.


Used Library Literature and Information Science Full Text:
Search Terms: children and reading and incentives

September 6, 2011

September 6, 2011-

Reading through the week 2 discussion posts about other classmates reaction to the articles and their previous research experience, I realize that the experience I bring to this class is adequate and I will be able to keep up. Research on an informal level takes place often in our lives. If I look at my experiences through the lens of research, I realize it happens frequently. At times I think I would like to be a researcher, the work sounds fascinating and very mission oriented. But, I used to think I want to be a cataloger until I took 248. I am confident that researching will be a better experience and I look forward to the challenge.

September 2, 2011

September 2, 2011-

After reading the articles by Pollard and Armstrong, I was struck with the difference in each researchers tone. Pollard, after 30 years of research experience seemed to have lots of good advice, and was still passionate about his work. Armstrong on the other hand, has lost his rose-colored glasses way back on the yellow brick road. As I am just starting on my own research journey, I am grateful to have both perspectives, a healthy dose of reality along with the passionate apologist.
The term ‘post modernist perspective’ has been bouncing around in my brain. How does someone ‘prove’ something if each of our realities are different and based on our own experiences. The article said …” we can construct rather than merely report or reflect realities through research.” I am hoping it is my lack of knowledge on the topic, but I don’t see how research can be reliable if the researcher is unduly influence by his or her experiences and that is acceptable practice. This is like the Reader-response theory in English literature.