Database Design Librarian Survey Database

Transcription

1 Database Design Librarian Survey Database BRANDON, MCKAY, AND MATSANGAISE A Report on the creation and implementation of a PostgreSQL database for accessing, querying, and analyzing data collected from Academic librarians working in Association of Research Library Member Institution libraries about their demographics, professional history, and scholarly communication practices.

2 Table of Contents Contents The Database Project 1 Database Environment 2 Information Flow Diagrams 3 User Profiles 4 Goals and Objectives 7 Database Profile 8 Sample SQL Queries 10

3 Pg. 01 The Database Project The Database Project Project Description The data in our database is supplied by a research project conducted in the spring of 2012 by a group of researchers in the Scholarly Communications class at SLIS who originally analyzed the data using unlinked spreadsheets. The data was collected using Google Forms from librarians at Academic ARL member institutions in the United States. Our goal was to make the data more usable by supplying new information about the conferences individual librarians attended, as well as providing a database for querying different types of relationships between types of librarians and the conferences they attend. In combination with the information retrieval interface created by the Web Programming class, this database will allow researchers to find new connections in the existing data. Project Members Melissa Brandon, Clinton McKay, Epaphras Matsangaise, each member of this group is responsible for additional data collection, as well as collaborating on the nature and function of the database, within our agreed upon guidelines.

4 Pg. 02 Database Environment Database Environment Client Profile Our client is the research team that compiled the data by administering the survey of Academic ARL member institution librarians. The client collected that data, met difficulties when trying to analyze it without a database, and asked that a database be created to facilitate searching for connections between different entities in the data set. The client also asked that the database and its data be made available online to users elsewhere so that researchers could query the data for information on their own research topics. The client will utilize the database in combination with the information retrieval interface created by the Web Programming class to further their research objectives.

5 Pg. 03 Information Flow Diagrams Explanation: Information Flow Diagrams This flow chart describes the process of gathering data from librarians by creating the survey and distributing it to them via to member librarians at Academic Association of Research Libraries Member Libraries.

6 Pg. 04 User Profiles Improvements: -With a database solution as opposed to a spreadsheet, the client will be able to query multiple fields at once whereas before the client was only capable of sorting a single column to find correlations (more powerful searching) -With a database solution, irrelevant answers can be excluded from query results allowing for faster processing of information -Since information processing is faster, the question and answer cycle depicted in the analysis flow diagram will be much faster.

7 Pg. 05 User Profiles User Profiles Project Leader This user is a member of the original research team that collected the data. The Project Leader participates in data analysis but also makes decisions about changes to the content and structure of the database as more information is collected and is in charge of granting permissions for external researchers to access the database online. The Project Leader will work closely with the Database Administrator. Decisions about corrections to the data and dealing with inconsistencies in the data will be made by the Project Leader. This user will also be the primary contributor to the publication for which this survey and database were designed; they will also be primarily responsible for the accuracy of the data. The Project Leader has strong to excellent proficiency in database use and online searching. Internal Researchers These researchers are members of the original research team that collected the data. They have more access than external researchers because they are in direct contact with the Project Leader. Working under the direction of the Project Leader, internal researchers will continue to design and administer surveys to expand the database. The internal researchers will also be contributors to the publication for which this survey and database were designed. Internal researchers have moderate to strong proficiency in database use and online searching.

8 Pg. 06 User Profiles External Researchers These researchers are not members of the original research team that collected the data. They have been granted access to the database by the Project Leader. Their use of the database is contingent upon their adherence to the policies put in place by the Project Leader. These users will have less access to the data than internal researchers as they are not in direct contact with the Project Leader on a daily basis. External researchers are expected to have at least moderate proficiency in database use and online searching.

9 Pg. 07 Goals and Objectives Goals and Objectives Members of the original research team (the Project Leader and internal researchers) are the primary clients and users of the database. They will use the database to further their research goals and synthesize new information from the large dataset. They will also work with the Database Administrator to enter new information into the database in the future. Client/User Goals Be able to store and access the data collected from survey respondents and other sources Answers to questions about demographics, research practices, publication practices, institutional repositories, emerging technology, and professional conference attendance Supplemental data collected from online sources Query the data based on multiple parameters Be able to make the data and the database accessible to external researchers Database Goals Provide more powerful searching capabilities than are possible with spreadsheet data Make it possible for the researchers to share their data with an unlimited number of external researchers and distribute updates seamlessly

10 Pg. 08 Database Profile Database Profile Business Rules Each respondent has between zero and many attendances; each attendance is had by one and only one respondent. Each conference has between one and many attendances; each attendance occurs at one and only one conference. Each conference has one primary topic; each primary topic is had by between one and many conferences. Each conference has one primary sponsor; each primary sponsor sponsors between one and many conferences. Entity Relationship Diagram

11 Pg. 09 Database Profile Data Dictionary

12 Pg. 10 Sample SQL Queries Sample SQL Queries 1) View only the survey responses from male librarians who reported attending the ALA conference in the past 5 years. SELECT * FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q3 = 'Male' AND attendance.conf_id = 5 2) Show the number of attendances reported to each of the conferences and the names of the conferences, order by number of attendances (highest to lowest). SELECT COUNT(attendance.conf_id), conference.name FROM attendance GROUP BY conference.name, attendance.conf_id ORDER BY COUNT(attendance.conf_id) DESC 3) Show the survey responses of librarians who attended any of the top 5 most attended conferences. SELECT * FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE conference.name IN (SELECT conference.name FROM attendance GROUP BY conference.name, attendance.conf_id ORDER BY COUNT(attendance.conf_id) DESC LIMIT 5)

13 Pg. 11 Sample SQL Queries 4) Show only the survey responses from librarians who reported the year they began working in academic libraries, order by the year they reported beginning their career in academic libraries. SELECT * FROM surveyanswers WHERE surveyanswers.q6 > 0 ORDER BY surveyanswers.q6 ASC 5) Show the names of conferences that were attended by librarians who reported using Blogs. SELECT DISTINCT conference.name FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q7 LIKE '%Blogs%' 6) Show a list of the conferences attended by librarians who reported having Doctoral degrees. SELECT DISTINCT conference.name FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q2 LIKE '%Doctoral%'

14 Pg. 12 Sample SQL Queries 7) Create a view of all conference attendances reported by librarians who also reported having an MLS/MIS/MLIS degree, then show how many librarians who reported having an MIS degree went to each conference: CREATE VIEW Master_Attendances AS SELECT * FROM attendance WHERE attendance.respondent_id IN ( SELECT surveyanswers.id FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q2 LIKE '%M.L.S./M.I.S./M.L.I.S.%' ) SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Master_Attendances.conf_id), conference.name FROM Master_Attendances JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = Master_Attendances.respondent_id GROUP BY conference.name, attendance.conf_id ORDER BY COUNT(attendance.conf_id) DESC

15 Pg. 13 Sample SQL Queries 8) Show the number of librarians reporting to have Doctoral degrees. SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT surveyanswers.id) AS "Number of respondents reporting to have Doctoral degrees" FROM surveyanswers WHERE surveyanswers.q2 LIKE '%Doctoral%' 9) Show a list of the conferences attended by respondents who report reading professional publications on a daily basis. SELECT DISTINCT conference.name FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q10 LIKE '%Daily%' ORDER BY conference.name 10) Show a list of the conferences attended by respondents who report that their institutions do not offer support for attending professional conferences. SELECT DISTINCT conference.name FROM surveyanswers JOIN attendance ON attendance.respondent_id = surveyanswers.id JOIN confsponsor ON confsponsor.id = conference.sponsor_id JOIN conftopic ON conftopic.id = conference.topic_id WHERE surveyanswers.q21 LIKE '%No%' ORDER BY conference.name