Babb, J. J. (2023). School librarian self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning: A mixed methods study (Publication No. 30313495) [Doctoral dissertation, Northern Illinois University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Abstract:

“The purposes of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study were to examine the self-efficacy beliefs of school librarians about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning during the quantitative phase and then to explore how these practices about technology integration during inquiry-based learning were being implemented during the qualitative phase. This study was conducted to better understand the self-efficacy beliefs of school librarians and how they provided students with authentic and meaningful experiences when integrating technology during inquiry-based learning. For the quantitative strand of research, the Technology Integration Self-Efficacy Scale (Wang et al., 2004) was slightly modified to tailor it for school librarian participants in this study. For the qualitative strand of research, semi-structured interviews were conducted followed by reviewing lesson plan artifacts. Three research questions were addressed in this explanatory sequential mixed methods design.

During the quantitative phase, Research Question 1 (QUAN) asked “What are the self-efficacy beliefs of school librarians about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning?” There were 115 school librarians that participated in the quantitative phase by completing a survey. There were four noteworthy findings that emerged from the quantitative phase using descriptive statistics. First, school librarian participants that had less years of experience were more likely to have low self-efficacy beliefs while school librarians with more years of experience were more likely to report high self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning. Second, younger school librarians were more likely to have low self-efficacy beliefs compared to older school librarians about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning. School librarians who were under 30 years old or younger reported the lowest self-efficacy beliefs compared to any other demographic. Third, middle school and high school librarians reported higher self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning compared to elementary school librarians. Fourth, school librarians that were not highly qualified reported the second lowest self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning compared to any other demographic. The quantitative findings from this study revealed that the years of experience, age, grade level taught, and qualifications influenced the self-efficacy beliefs of school librarians when integrating technology during inquiry-based learning.

During the qualitative phase, Research Question 2 (qual) asked “how do school librarians describe their practices when integrating technology during inquiry-based learning?” Ten school librarian participants were selected from the quantitative phase using maximum variation sampling to participate in the qualitative phase. The qualitative phase included collecting and analyzing data from semi-structured interviews and then reviewing lesson plan artifacts. Socialization was the most prevalent major theme that emerged from the semi-structured interviews where the participants described how their perceptions and experiences of observations and interactions with administration, colleagues, parents, and students influenced their self-efficacy beliefs and their practices about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning. Subthemes for Socialization included (1a) stakeholder relationships and (1b) physiological factors. Performance was the second most prevalent major theme that emerged during the semi-structured interviews where the participants described how their perceptions, experiences, preparation, and performance influenced their self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning. Subthemes for Performance included (2a) experience, (2b) modeling and creating, and (2c) barriers. In addition to conducting semi-structured interviews, lesson plan artifacts were reviewed to further explore how school librarians integrated technology during inquiry-based learning. Student-Centered Integration was the most prevalent theme that emerged when reviewing lesson plan artifacts and included subthemes of (3a) student consumption, (3b) student creation, and (3c) student collaboration. Librarian-Centered Integration was the second major theme that emerged when reviewing lesson plan artifacts and included subthemes of (4a) modeling and creating and (4b) curating.

Research Question 3 was a mixed methods research question that asked “In what ways does the qualitative data of exploring the practices of school librarians about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning help to explain the quantitative strand of data of their self-efficacy beliefs?” Self-efficacy beliefs about integrating technology during inquiry-based learning do not always lead to practices, but they can provide a good indicator to determine if these practices will be incorporated well. Therefore, a joint display was developed to demonstrate how the quantitative and qualitative phases provided insights into how both phases were mixed and integrated. The joint display for this study included all three data sources for this study including lesson plan artifact subthemes, quotes from the semi-structured interviews, and scores from the quantitative survey instrument that indicated low or high self-efficacy beliefs.”