meaningful concept displays for thesis topic exploration
DESCRIPTION
Research findings presented at the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education Student Research Symposium, Buffalo, NY, April 14, 2011.TRANSCRIPT
Meaningful Concept Displays for thesis topic exploration
Katherine [email protected]
Department of Library and Information Studies
Purpose
• How do Meaningful Concept Displays, specifically concept maps, help users to explore a thesis or term paper topic?
• Through this type of exploration, are users able to gain a fuller understanding of the conceptual space surrounding their topic?
• Does this new understanding lead to better retrieval of relevant literature?
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Procedure
• A total of 10 doctoral and master’s students from GSE were recruited through listserv email messages to voluntarily participate in one, 1-2 hour session.
• All searching, note taking, and concept map construction was recorded using a voice recorder and screen capture software.
• A post-session interview was designed to learn about:– the participant’s opinion of the overall experience during
the study– how they regard the usefulness of creating the concept
map– the value (if any) of the search results
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ProcessParticipants,
• Search thesauri, the GSE envisioning statement, and other knowledge organization systems (KOS) for relevant terms
• Construct and modify a concept map using IHMC CMap
• Take notes regarding what they have found in Microsoft OneNote
• Search education databases and the Web for relevant literature
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Project description
From KOS
Concept map
Take notesSearch for documents
Improved project
description
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Participant 9: Computer assisted instruction for music learning
Beginning of session
Middle of session
End of session
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Participant 9: Middle of session
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Participant 9: End of session
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Data analysis: Coding schema
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Preliminary results• Using the concept map helped participants to
develop and clarify their topics– “Developed the structure of the whole thing” (P09)
– Helps visualize the progression from concept map to outline to final paper
• Thesauri and knowledge organization systems were useful for finding additional terms– Instead of using the first thing that comes to mind,
the thesaurus helps to expand the topic (P12)
• Participants were able to find more relevant literature using the found terms
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Conclusions• Every participant was interested in installing
and using the CMap software for future projects
• CMap software is useful as a tool for developing a topic between advisor and student
• Being able to talk about the topic to someone outside the field of interest helped to clarify and envision new directions
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