Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on experience in supervising new researchers and the advice of other writers, to offer novice researchers, such as those engaged in study for a thesis, a pragmatic introduction to conducting research interviews.Design/methodology/approach – After a brief introduction, the paper is organized into three main sections: designing and planning interviews, conducting interviews, and making sense of interview data. Within these sections, 11 questions often asked by novice researchers are posed and answered.Findings – Novice interviewers need to conduct some research interviews in order to start to develop their skills in the craft of interviewing. This paper is designed to give novice interviewers the advice and support that they need before starting on this journey.Originality/value – Other research methods texts offer advice on research interviews, but their advice is not tailored specifically to new researchers engaged in research for a thesis. They tend to offer...

Conducting research interviews

University students are increasingly choosing to purchase e-textbooks for their mobile devices as an alternative to traditional textbooks. This study examines the relationship between textbook format and 538 university students' grades and perceived learning scores. Results demonstrate that there was no difference in cognitive learning and grades between the two groups, suggesting that the electronic textbook is as effective for learning as the traditional textbook. The mean scores indicated that students who chose e-textbooks for their education courses had significantly higher perceived affective learning and psychomotor learning than students who chose to use traditional print textbooks.

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Electronic versus traditional print textbooks: A comparison study on the influence of university students' learning

This paper presents the results of a large scale survey designed to investigate usage patterns and library patron attitudes toward e-books. The survey reveals a university community's discovery and knowledge of e-books, their likes and dislikes about book content in electronic format as opposed to print, and their predictions of how they will use electronic and print book materials in the future. The survey shows that acceptance of e-books has reached a level where they have become an important library service. The results, based on a study conducted in collaboration with Springer, break down e-book awareness and attitudes into faculty, graduate student, and undergraduate student constituent groups. Additionally, statistics are presented to complement the survey results by showing that the usage of e-book content at the University of Illinois is increasing at a rapid pace.11 The author wishes to thank William H. Mischo and Sharif Islam for their invaluable assistance in managing and querying the s...

E-book usage in an academic library: User attitudes and behaviors

E-Books as Textbooks in the Classroom

An integrated adoption model for e-books in a mobile environment: Evidence from South Korea

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a definition for the concept “e‐book” on the basis of an analysis of existing definitions. The e‐book marketplace is growing rapidly and the potential impact of e‐books on publishers, librarian and users is increasing in significance. Yet, there is agreement that despite a few widely accepted definitions there is no consensus on the definition of the term e‐book, and, further that consensus on the definition would be beneficial for both researchers and practitioners.Design/methodology/approach – This paper starts with a brief overview of the developments in e‐books, covering technologies, marketplaces, and the attractions and challenges associated with e‐books for users and libraries. It then reports on a content analysis of existing definitions of e‐book. A collection of definitions was compiled through an exhaustive literature review. Content analysis was performed to identify the frequency of occurrence of key words and phrases across these definitions.Findings – Th...

Progressing the definition of “e‐book”

This article reports on the use of the card-based game method in semi-structured interviews in three separate research projects. The essence of the method is simple: cards are created with words or...

Magda Vassiliou

Papers

Progressing the definition of “e‐book”

Using card-based games to enhance the value of semi-structured interviews