Recent trends in research: A methodological essay

The first national library research seminar, held at Florida State Universi ty in 1996, provided the impetus for this consideration of relatively new a nd uncommon research methods being employed by researchers in the social sc iences and in library and information science in particular. This article b egins with a review of the various research methods that researchers in lib rary and information science have used. The focus then shifts to an identif ication of methods appearing in the qualitative research literature. They i nclude phenomenological methods, hermeneutics, ethnomethodology, reflexivit y, discourse analysis, and semiotics. Methods more, if not exclusively, qua ntitative in nature are next examined and include discrete choice analysis, log analysis, protocol analysis, and geographic information systems. (A ge ographic information system can be viewed as an information service or a ma nagement information system, but it is considered here because of its appli cations as a research method.) Brief consideration is given to possible fut ure methodological trends in social science research. An extensive bibliogr aphy is provided.