The Effectiveness of Online Versus In-person Library Instruction on Finding Empirical Communication Research

With online education becoming more popular, the following study compares the effectiveness of online versus in-person library instruction with regards to teaching communication students how to seek empirical research to use in their class projects. Measures of knowledge gain and attitudes revealed significant differences across time showing success of the instruction, but non-significant differences between the modes of instruction. However, a behavioral measure found that almost 10% more students in the online condition were able to successfully find empirical articles to use in their projects than those in the in-person instructional condition. With empirical research living less at brick-and-mortar libraries and primarily in online repositories, teaching students how to find empirical research may be most successful when it is taught via online platforms.