Comparison between PR China and USA in the Field of Library and Information Sciences

Transcription

1 Journal of East Asian Libraries Volume 1999 Number 117 Article Comparison between PR China and USA in the Field of Library and Information Sciences Weina Hua Follow this and additional works at: BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hua, Weina (1999) "Comparison between PR China and USA in the Field of Library and Information Sciences," Journal of East Asian Libraries: Vol : No. 117, Article 3. Available at: This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of East Asian Libraries by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu.

2 comparison BETWEEN PR CHINA USA FIELD LIBRARY information SCIENCE weina hua nanjing nanking university subjects andjoumal journal publication periodical articles reveal much research situation given field 1977 bluma C peritz library science researcher america began quantitative analysis core journal articles library information science field assessing research methods subjects objects quantitative analytical techniques citations peritz 1980 several researchers followed model afterwards feehan 1987 nour 1985 china late eighties early nineties similar studies published present paper uses comparable data peoples republic china US analyze compare similarities differences library science field two countries data method data USA came four english language journal articles ref china came two chinese journal articles ref comparable data used study classification research methods research subjects acts used american studies used paper alteration considering chinas cainas statistics samples studied articles core research journals library information science USA PR china total number research articles each year per cent total journal burnal articles shown table I1 table I1 research articles sample periodicals table 1 I research articles sample periodicals country USA PR china year articles ratio i r american statistics collected 1950 chinese statistics 1981 statistics articles library science published united states began 1950 while those china date comparison citations excluded paper 718

3 comparison data I1 research methods comparison statistical data united states peoples republic china analyzed according research method shown table II 11 table 11 II research articles research methods research methods PR china USA articles ratio articles ratio theoretical analysis information system design survey & experiment bibliometric content analysis historic research description comparative total similarities number studies library history decreased each year both countries b number articles information system design increased each year both countries c bibliometrics special research method used library information science came being d both countries used comparative analysis studies 2 differences frequently used method US survey experiment method seldom used china b studies done US using survey method done mainly through questionnaire interview few surveys done china investigation library circulation types library 2

4 c method frequently used china theoretical analysis made then 40 total US average rate limited using logic abstract thinking induction theoretical method china rate US much smaller d years surveyed articles used experimental method count dissertations library science revealed 10 US works used experimental method total papers used content analysis these same years 30 dissertations reflecting results content analysis almost papers china used these two methods e descriptive analysis US mainly used bibliographies china descriptions need know results foreign studies many introductions f none data two countries mentioned delphi method category used US 1984 data given kind research method often used united states especially prediction library dissertations articles based delphi method china method seldom used even prediction used research method united states survey experiment while china theoretical analysis theoretical analysis survey experiment two very different research methods former stresses macro thinking overview while latter focuses concrete individual theoretical analysis based logic experience induction leads theory relies thought processes survey experiment hand relies mainly data collection sorting analysis former may done study while latter generally should done survey interviews readers librarians 11 II research subjects table 111 III ili lii research articles 1984 research subjects research subjects PR china USA general library & information profession theoretical research log applied research administration public service technical process acquisition

5 table 111 III lii research articles 1984 research subjects users study interlibrary loan ii system ig others li lg go 90 1 similarities generally speaking percentages each subject two countries nearly same 2 differences b percentage articles library information profession higher US china china articles library types principles systems predictions while US consideration library profession librarians status salaries continuous education ethics moral categories subcategories theory research america works information science theory bibliography araphy bibliometrics china papers pure theory work especially basic theory general theoretical research c applied research work chinas cainas researches done using theoretical analysis little use ofsurvey experiment example total articles 1984 library administration library sciencejournals these articles used survey & experiment method china gg total articles library administration these used theoretical analysis review function process 207 published US importance management survey method accounted papers concrete detail depth analysis applied studies done US superior those done china d united states articles library automation china america 1980 category library automation amounted research china percentages ig e users study method employed consistently both countries articles US publications tended look special readers hrom number articles sample grouped category total those using users study method china studies general readers altogether total users study 4 Z articles total category centered special readers

6 111 III ili lii research objects objects here means libraries information institutes related agencies table IV research articles library types library types PR china USA articles relating libraries 20.3 public libraries univ libraries information agencies 0.9 og og special libraries school libraries og 1.6 lg ig articles libraries university libraries number studies special libraries published US many years exceeded number studies public libraries china very few articles special libraries published IV quantitativenon quantitative analytical techniques 53 total sample US articles 1984 used quantitative analytical techniques china percentages quantitative US library science research inferentialpredictive made s quantitative papers according statistics published another US article enger 1989 sample library research articles done 1985 ratio quantitative non quantitative 12 these quantitative papers descriptive quantitative inferentialpredictive chinas cainas quantitative research articles almost wholly descriptive very few inferentialpredictive conclusion recommendations statistics above show library science china made much progress past two decades our research greatly improved discipline grown compared developed countries still long way go although thousands thousands articles published each year good ones few main weakness theory divorced practice articles suffered lack advanced research methods order improve our library sinfori information nation science research librarians china should my opinion advocate practical realistic research style encourage advanced practical 5

7 research methods strengthen quantitative studies library information science schools should add research methods courses classroom lecturing field practice demonstrations references 1 enger kathy B quirk georgia stewart J andrew statistical methods used authors library information journal articles library information research andinformation science 2 feehan patricia E etal library information science research analysis 1984 journal literature library information science research nour martyvonne Martyvonne M quantitative analysis research articles published core library journals 1980 library information science research peritz bluma C methods library science research results bibliometric survey library research schlachter gail thomison dennis library science dissertations annotated bibliography littleton colorado libraries unlimited dissertation abstractsinternational social sciences humanities hua weina comparative analysis library information science research PR china USA master thesis nanjing nanking kanjing university hua weina outline core journal USA bulletin library society china burnal articles analysis library information science 9 hua weina comparative study periodical citation statistics chinese american library information science journal 0 library science china hua weina quantitative analysis library information science journal china societyfor 226 science research china society por scientific technical information hua weina comparison between P R china & USA research methods subjects objects quantitativenon quantitative techniques field library science journal china societyfor technical information science information society por scientific 6