In the past two weeks, we completed the research methods training portion of 2023 IRDL Online. IRDL is a continuing education program for academic and research librarians designed to create a growing community of confident librarian-researchers. The research methods training portion was provided in the form of an online summer research workshop, where I was an instructor. It’s incredibly energizing and exciting to talk to a group of research-minded librarians about conducting research to improve professional practice. One theme that arose from our discussions was the use of AI in research design. One of the librarian scholars gave it a try and asked ChatGPT to write survey questions for a research scenario.
Here’s her prompt: I need to write a survey to find out how academic librarians engage in professional development. ACRL will use the survey findings to develop the Guidelines for Professional Development for Academic Librarians, which they believe will provide guidance for academic librarians as they explore professional development opportunities and make professional development plans. Can you write 4 questions for this survey?
ChatGPT’s response:
Certainly! Here are four sample questions for your survey on how academic librarians engage in professional development:
1. How frequently do you engage in professional development activities related to your role as an academic librarian?
• Rarely or never
• Occasionally (1-2 times per year)
• Regularly (3-5 times per year)
• Frequently (more than 5 times per year)
2. What types of professional development activities do you find most beneficial in enhancing your skills and knowledge as an academic librarian? (Select all that apply)
• Workshops and conferences
• Webinars and online courses
• Professional association memberships and events
• Formal education (e.g., degree programs)
• Informal learning (e.g., self-study, reading journals)
• Mentoring and coaching programs
• Other (please specify)
3. How do you typically seek out information about professional development opportunities? (Select all that apply)
• Internal communication channels (e.g., email, intranet)
• External websites and online resources
• Professional networks and colleagues
• Professional association publications and newsletters
• Supervisors and managers
• Other (please specify)
4. What factors influence your decision to participate in a professional development activity? (Select all that apply)
• Relevance to current job responsibilities and career goals
• Availability of funding or financial support
• Recommendations from colleagues or supervisors
• Reputation and credibility of the provider or organization
• Flexibility in terms of time and scheduling
• Recognition or credentialing opportunities
• Other (please specify)
Looking at these survey questions, I think ChatGPT did a nice job in operationalizing the key concepts in the research question based on the research goal. There’s room for improvement in wording survey questions that uphold the basic rules for survey design such as being concise and unambiguous, avoiding leading questions or double barreled questions, and making sure response categories are exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Still, this can be a good start if we are get stuck in our instrument design and don’t know where to begin.
There’s been discussion about using AI in manuscript writing such as this Science article “As scientists explore AI-written text, journals hammer out policies“. Looks like we will need more discussion about using AI in assisting the research process such as designing survey questionnaire, interview guide or a content analysis codebook.
Formalized Curiosity 