Between ROCM and a hard research question

Like Mary I have recently had some personal matters to attend to (MOVING!), which gave me an untimely break from school obligations. Please forgive that I am currently two chapters behind in my readings. 

However, while unpacking I stumbled upon my syllabus from ROCM.  Truth be told, no matter what anyone says about the 2012 ROCM course, I enjoyed the philosophical meanderings that questioned Representation, Organization, Classification and Meaning-making in the information profession. Yes, the course was disorganized and a bit messy in its delivery but its pedagogy aimed to teach students how to think critically about information practices.  After ROCM I was able to ask ontological (what exists in the world) and epistemological (nature of human knowledge and understanding) questions about LIS and ARM practices.  The ability to confidently question the profession and its practices is undoubtedly how librarians have been able to stay relevant throughout the evolving technologies, mediums and user demands of yesterday and today (please note: with the exception of records managers, archivists adaptability has been a different story).  By asking difficult questions about why we classify information, how we determine subject headings and why these decisions might reflect or affect society, can help us to find better solutions and ultimately stay relevant. As a result, I now have the tools and ability to question theory and a means to identify best practices.

So in all this reflection on ROCM where does this leave my research proposal? Well, I had one of those Oprah "Ah Ha!" moments in Chapter 4 of Luker where she asks, "What Is This A Case Of, Anyway? She then asks readers four questions to help formulate a research question. These questions in turn prompted me to define how they related to the ROCM acronym. This approach was incredibly helpful for me to understand what it is exactly that I want to ask and answer in my research question. My rationale for making these connections is supported by the fact that there is no undergraduate equivalent to the MI degree and no canonical information methodologies prevalent across the field (hence the reason why we are reading a SOCIAL SCIENCES research methods text and not one about Information science). As a result, I found it necessary to formulate a research approach that I could understand purely from an information based perspective.

Additionally, I have combined Luker’s analogy that sociologists are like journalists (but slower) except they work to answer the HOW in addition to who, what, where, when and why (p.55).  Additionally, I will show you how these journalist/sociologist questions can be applied to ROCM topics and Research Methods.

Context - 

Who: Record Managers in Public sector/municipal government

What:  Records, administration and Risk Assessment tools

Figure 1.

Journalist	ROCM	Luker Chapter 4 (p. 51-52)	Researcher
Where	Representation	1. A research question asks for a set of relationships between or among concepts or “variables”.	WHERE are broad concepts represented together?
When	Organization	2. Understanding that relationship between variables help us to explain something important about… ARM/LIS theory and practices.	WHEN can broader concepts be organized to reveal narrower concepts?
Why	Classification	3. A true research question permits a range of possible answers that can be empirically or logically examined to see if some answers fit the data.	WHY is the act of classifying data results useful?
How	Meaning-making	4. A good research question, properly answered, advances some part in one or more intellectual conversations that are already going on in some part of the scholarly world that matters to you.	HOW is this question going to make relevant meaning to me and the profession?

 *The ROCM questions would use epistemological and ontological questions to inform a methodological approach.

Luker calls random sampling a voyage and warns that, "we do want to protect ourselves from the complaint that our small group of observations is totally idiosyncratic for one reason or another"  (p.46).  While my thoughts are logical observations about Information practices and research methods, it is not an empirical sample.  Therefore, I welcome further insight and would appreciate critical questions, suggestions or observations about the potential value of this research aid/organizer from other group members. Could this be a useful tool for others to organize research questions and concepts to formulate meaning-making?