This program is developed as a Self-study Training program to assist you in preparing for the CIRS Certification examination. The CIRS Certification Training guide is most suitable as a Practical Guide for mastering the art of Online Research or Online search by anyone that uses the Internet as a primary tool for information gathering.
You will learn about the practical approach to building complex search engine queries, Google advanced search, tools and tactics when taking the CIRS Certification exam. The 4th edition is written in such a way that you can feel confident in your grasp of the principles. You'll learn the most up-to-date online research techniques, and the course will help you build your capacity to perform independent research that goes beyond textbooks and simple internet searches.
These are a set of 2 books bundle as a Self-Study Internet Research Training Guide and Q&A Workbook to prepare students for the CIRS Certification Exam of 2020.
The 4th Edition CIRS Certification curriculum consists of four (4) modules and 42 chapters, and AofIRS has released a new 5th version of the CIRS Training Guide. In accordance with the CIRS Training Guide, 5th edition, learn the most up-to-date search and research best practices.
[Note: This is a downloadable PDF version and not in print - all book purchases are Non-Refundable ]
Details of CIRS Exam Syllabus
How the Books are Designed?
Book is well-designed for someone who is starting a career involving extensive online research with a very little technical background, you will find that the book will start you with the basic concepts and gradually take you to the expert levels fairly quickly - this is due to the use of simple English combined with plenty of screenshots captured as exhibits – It contains hundreds of practical examples, easy to follow illustrations, diagrams, charts, graphs and several lists of information resources and links.
CIRS Self-Study Guides and Practice Workbook Bundle Included
Self-Study Bundle Includes
- CIRS Professional Online Research – 600 Pages
- CIRS Workbook for Professional Online Research - 170 Pages
This program consists of four (4) Modules and (42) Chapters, providing you with latest job-ready skills and techniques.
This module gives you an understanding of the technology that makes the Internet and how the web pages are accessed and displayed in a web browser? - The course is custom designed so that online researchers can make a better sense of when to apply specific search queries? And how to best structure it in a given situation?
We have split this module into two segments.
- The Internet Research - Methods and Techniques, and,
- Conventional Research Methods and Methodologies.
The Internet Research - Methods and Techniques is considered the core segment of Internet research teaching. The segment is focused on web search techniques and identifies various challenges, methods and inherent barriers to online research. It gives students an overall understanding of search engine behavior and functionality. The students learn to build complex web search queries and perform a precision search with confidence.
The Research Methods and Methodologies segment of the course is typical conventional research methods and methodologies that are fundamental for any type of research work. This segment is covering knowledge of the industry’s research standards, conventions and methods applied by traditional research practitioners.
CHAPTER 2-1 | SEARCH ENGINES AND KEYWORDS SEARCH
- CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRUE SEARCH ENGINE
- THE FIVE METHODS OF WEB SEARCH
- What are the Main Search Engines?
- Specialized Search Engines
- Meta-search Engines
- Websites & Web Portals
- Subscription Database of Deep Web
- Web Search Query Builders – Approach and Components
- Keywords and Phrase Search
- Proximity Search
- Precision Searches
- Search Queries Vs. Search Terms
- Search Query Operators
- Specialized Search Tools of Main Search Engines
- KEYWORDS AND PHRASE SEARCH
- Broad Search Keywords
- Narrow Search Keywords
- The Primary Keywords and Secondary Keywords
- Identifying Primary Keywords
- Importance of Secondary Keywords in Precision Search
- BUILDING KEYWORDS & PHRASE FOR SEARCH
- Core Elements of a Keywords Search Query
- Types of Search Query based on Search Query Phrase Structure
- Short Tail Keywords or Broad Keywords Query
- Long Tail Keywords or Long Keywords Query
- The Advantage and Disadvantage of Long and Short Tails for Search
CHAPTER 2-2 | SEARCH ENGINE TEXTUAL DATABASE & QUERY RECOGNITION INTELLIGENCE
- SEARCH INTELLIGENCE
- RE-VISITING QUERY INTERPRETATIONS IN SEARCH ENGINE TEXTUAL DATABASE
- Search Intelligence (Semantics Model)
- The Semantically Similar Textual Query
- Variations of Semantically Similar Conversational Sentences
- The Semantics of “Stemming” and “Lemmatization”.
- The Semantics of Keywords Replacement with Stemming & Lemmatization
- Textual Query and Natural Language Recognition (NLP)
- Textual Database and Machine Learning Intelligence (MLI)
- Ranking and Relevance Explained by Google
- Web Page Authority
- Web Page Popularity
CHAPTER 2-3 | QUERY INTENT DETERMINATION WITH CONTEXT
- RECAPPING - INTENT, CONTEXT, AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING
- TYPES OF INTENT-BASED SEARCH QUERIES
- Navigational Search Query
- Informational Search Query
- Exploratory Search Queries
- Transactional Search Queries
- THE CONTEXT IN TEXTUAL SEARCH
- Applying Context to Search Phrase – Examples and Illustrations
- Query Context Types and Forms
- Primary Context and Secondary Context
- Explicit Context and Implied Context
- Types of Contextual Information
- Location as Context
- Influencers in Implicit Location Detection by Search Engine
- The behavior of Repeat Search Refinement Sessions
- Chart Showing Example of Repeat Search Sessions for Query Refinement
- Search History Context
- Short-term Search History
- Long-term Search History
- List of Typical Long-term and short-term history about search
- List of Information gathered by Search Browser
- Internet Browsing Data Collection
- Profile and Personal Information
- Correspondence and Communication Data
- Entity Relationships Context in Search Query Intent Refinement
- Seasonality as Context
- Location Context Results
- How do Search Engines apply search Intent related Context Data?
- Browser Personalization
- Localization
- Marketing and Advertisement
- Trends and Search Patterns Data Correlate
- Summary Chart – Primary & Secondary Context - Explicit and Implicit Context
- Summary Chart – Textual Semantics & Auto-predicts
- Summary Chart – Intent Relationship to Primary and Secondary Context
- Summary Chart –[Intent, Context, Relevance & Predictive Search]
CHAPTER 2-4 | SEARCH ASSIST & PREDICTIVE SEARCH
- Search Assistive Tool
- Auto-complete Prediction of Search Terms
- Main advantages of Google “Auto-complete” in Web Search
- The “People also ask” in Google Search
- Google “Searches related to”
CHAPTER 2-5 | BUILDING WEB SEARCH QUERIES
WEB SEARCH QUERY BUILDING OPERATORS, NOTATIONS & SYMBOLS
- Search Query Building Approach & Methods
- Search Queries Building Approach – Chart Explaining Types of Operators, Notations & Symbols
- Proximity Search Query
- The “Proximity Search” in Query Intent Translation
- Proximity Search with Google AROUND (#) Operator
- The Concept of “Truncation” or “Wildcards” in Proximity Search Query
CHAPTER 2-6 | MULTI-SEARCH QUERIES WITH BOOLEAN OPERATORS
- Multi-search Queries
- Quotation Marks “quote” Enclosed Phrase Search Query
- Nesting with Parentheses ( ) in Search
- Boolean Operators – Revision Examples to Remember
CHAPTER 2-7 | PRECISION SEARCH WITH ADVANCE SEARCH OPERATORS
- PRECISION SEARCH QUERY
- UNDERSTANDING THE BASIC
- STRUCTURE OF “ADVANCED SEARCH OPERATORS”
- STRUCTURING SEARCH QUERY STRING WITH MULTIPLE OPERATORS
- SEARCH OPERATORS - RULES, TIPS & NOTES
- Mind your gaps between the search operator and search terms
- Search results with search terms inside quotes and without quotes matters
- When further precision is required, and you want to refine your query
- When expanding query with multiple keywords and search phrase
- Changing placement (positions) of search phrase and keywords in search query
- Search Terms Re-shuffling and Re-arrangements
- Search Queries for Web Pages File Types
- List of File Types Indexed and Read by Google Search Engine
- File Formats for Information (Advantage and Disadvantage)
- Searching Snippets – the Title, Links & Description
- Querying Snippet’s “Title” Text
- Difference between intitle: and allintitle
- Querying URL’s (Links)
- Difference between inurl: and allinurl:
- URL’s within and outside of Domain
- Outbound Links or External Links
- Inbound Links or Backlinks
- Links Not Indexed by Crawlers
- Referral Links
- No-follow Links
- Querying Anchor Text of Anchor Links
- Search for Anchor Links with Google inanchor: and allinanchor: Advanced Search Operators
- Advantages of inanchor: and allinanchor: Operators
- Search for URL’s with Link: Operator
- Search with info: Operator
CHAPTER 2-8 | READING SEARCH ENGINE RESULTS
- SEARCH ENGINE RESULT PAGES [SERP]
- Common Elements of SERP’s Display Structure
- Exhibit – Components of SERP [Search Engine Results Page]
- What is Snippet?
- Components of a typical Snippet
- Types of Site Links
- Breadcrumbs Schema Site Links
- Advantage of Breadcrumbs for Online Research
- Destination Page Hyperlinks or Final URL
- Classification of Destination Page URL
- URL’s Identified by Path Structure of the Destination Folders
- Absolute URL (or Final URL)
- A Relative URL
- URL Generated Based on Website Technology
- Static Website Links (URL)
- Dynamic Web links (URL)
- Destination URL Components
- The Internet Web Pages Protocol
- Hostname or Domains and Sub-domains
- Construction of Main Domain Names
- Top Level Domains (TLD)
- Organizational Top-Level Domain Names (TLD)
- Location Based Top Level Domains [Geographic Hierarchy]
- Second Level Domains (SLD or 2LD)
- Third Level Domains
- Links (URL) Path or Stem Explained
- Dynamic Vs. Static Link (URL)
- Importance of understanding URL’s for Research
- READING AND INTERPRETING WEB PAGE LINKS
- Snippet Destination Links [Format and Source ID]
CHAPTER 2-9 | SEARCHING FOR WEB RESOURCES
- NEWS, NEWS STORIES & ARTICLES
- WEB BLOGS
- SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
- ONLINE COMMUNITY AND FORUMS
- VIDEOS AND VIDEO FILES
- RESEARCH WORK (SCHOLARLY ARTICLES)
- EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
- ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
- THE “CACHED,” “SIMILAR” & “VERBATIM” SEARCH
CHAPTER 2-10 | A PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF ONLINE SEARCH
- FINDING A PERSON - FIRST & LAST NAME KNOWN
- FIRST & LAST NAME KNOWN BUT TOO MANY RESULTS THAT NEED MORE FILTERING
- Exception when searching for a famous name becomes more difficult
- Applying Contextual Search Query
- Example of Building a Contextual Search Query by Creating Relationships
- Using Proximity Search Operators
- When full name is unknown
- Build multi-search queries and apply context
- Perform Images Search for Profile Picture
- Alternate Search When Image is NOT AVAILABLE
- Search for a Person’s Professional Relationships with Others in Business Domain
- Perform Proximity Search of Person Being Searched and their Acquaintances
- Search Person’s Work References with File Types
- Search Person’s Name by Querying their Physical Location
- You can do more search to locate email contact if the subject’s employer is known
- Search Employer and Employee
- If you need to find a personal email address
- Searching for phone numbers
- Alternate query to search phone number by searching for resumes:
- Find resume by eliminating “False Positive” search results
- Search People in Business or Profession
- Looking for a Business Contact Information when their Business Domain is Unknows
- Method for extracting information pages by rigging folder and page names in the URL paths
- Search Same Types of Businesses
CHAPTER 2-11 | INTERNET RESEARCH CHALLENGES
- PROFESSIONAL ONLINE RESEARCH TYPES
- Free Form Internet Research (Exploratory)
- Target Data Access (Navigational)
- Online Data Collection
- Social Media Research
- Internet-based Collaboration Research
- Consumer Insights, Trends, and Behavior via Browsing Data Collections
- ADVANTAGES OF THE INTERNET FOR RESEARCH
- INTERNET RESEARCH AND CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL DATA
- Easy and Fast Information (“Haste Makes Waste”)
- Information Timelines
- Information Context
- Predictive Technology in Search Engines
- Multicultural and Language Barriers
- Region Specific Default Browsing (Internet Filter Bubble)
- The Net Neutrality
- Complex Legal Issues
- Cyber Vandalism and Online Information Sabotage
- Corporate Advertisements
- Tabloids and Magazine Sites
- Religious Beliefs
- Political Material
- News Media
- Propaganda Groups
- Technology Misuse
- False Reviews
- Raves and Rants
- False Surveys and Polls
- Self-entitlement of Opinions
- A consequence of Rapid Internet Spread
- Social Media and Information Sabotage
- Ghost Writers on Internet Forums
- Data generalizability with Internet research
- Human Subjects & Privacy
- Protection of Human Subjects
- Potential Risk for Participants in Internet Research
- Question of Informed Consent
CHAPTER 2-12 | INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE DATA COLLECTION METHODS
- ONLINE SURVEYS, INTERVIEWS, FOCUS GROUPS, ETHNOGRAPHY, CLINICAL TRIALS AND EXPERIMENTS
- Surveys and Polls
- Difference between Surveys and Polls
- Surveys According to Instrumentation
- What are a Survey Questionnaires?
- Preparing an Effective Questionnaire for Survey
- Survey Question Types
- Closed-ended Questions
- Types of Closed-Ended Questions
- Multiple Choice Questions
- Rating Questions
- Likert Scale Questions
- Semantic Differential Scale
- Ranking Questions
- Checklist Types of Questions
- Fill-in-the-Blank
- Open-ended questions
- Advantages and Disadvantages of Questionnaires
- What are the Interviews?
- Surveys According to the Span of Time Involved
- Cross-Sectional Surveys
- Longitudinal Surveys
- Preparing the Survey
- Selecting a Sample
- Surveys for Reporting
- Methods of Survey Administration
- Paper Surveys
- Mobile Surveys
- Web Surveys
- Guide for Improving Response Quality and Audience Participation
- Online (virtual) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
- Online (virtual) ethnography
- Online clinical trials
- Web-based experiments (Internet experiments)
- Internet Surveys - Advantages and Disadvantages
- Internet Surveys Advantages
- Automation and Real-Time Access
- Conserves Time and Effort
- Convenience for Respondents
- Design Flexibility
- No Interviewer
- Internet Survey Disadvantages
- Limited Sampling and Respondent Availability
- Possible Cooperation Problems
- No Live Interviewer Required
CHAPTER 2-13 | INTERNET INFORMATION SOURCES
- WHAT IS INTERNET INFORMATION?
- LIBRARIES VS. INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET
- Information Overlaps and Lost Opportunity Cost in Libraries vs. Internet
- Comparing Search Engines Vs. Library Database Systems
- Information Sourcing Plan Outline
- Information Requirements by Industry, Market, Audience, and Research Subject
- Who Needs Research?
- Academic Research
- Non-Academic Research
- Corporate, Business & Industry
- Information Businesses
- Professional Associations
- Scientists Community
- Governments
- International Agencies
- Information Distinction based on its Originality and Proximity to its Source
- Different Forms of Information
- Background Information
- In-depth Information
- Quick Facts Reviews
- Real-time Information [Information Traps]
- Information Discovery (or Investigative Information)
- Knowledge Discovery (in Trends & Predictions)
- Big Data Information (Unstructured Raw Data)
- Analytical or Statistical Data [Polls, Census, Surveys, Statistics]
- Groups or Communities, Blogs, Articles and Opinions
- TRADITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
- Books [Ref, Facts, Fic, Tech]
- Periodicals: Scholarly Journals, Trade Magazines, Peer Reviews & Newspapers
- Periodicals
- Scholarly journals
- Peer-Reviews
- Newspapers
- Seminars, Webinars, and Lectures
- Print Medium
- Digital Media [Localized and Non-Internet]
- Online Information Database [Includes Internet]
CHAPTER 2-14 | INFORMATION OF THE DEEP WEB
- THE VISIBLE WEB
- The Two Layers of Visible Web
- Layer 1 - The “Common Web”
- Layer 2 - The “Surface Web”
- THE DEEP WEB (HIDDEN WEB OR INVISIBLE WEB)
- THE DARK WEB
- FUTURE OF DEEP WEB – WHAT TO EXPECT?
- VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS (VPN)
- Visual Chart - Internet Web Information Divide – [Visible Vs. Deep Web]
CHAPTER 2-15 | SPONSORED ADVERTISEMENT VS. REAL INFORMATION
- SEARCH ENGINES AND FREE INFORMATION
- SEARCH ENGINE REVENUE FROM SPONSORED ADVERTISEMENTS
- Web Advertisers and Sponsored Ads
- Illusions of Sponsored Ads by Search Engine
- Illegible “Sponsored Ad” Notations
- Misleading “Headlines” and “Captions” of Sponsored Ads
- Layout Blending Tactics
- Advertorials, Contextual Links, and Leading Ads
- FREE INFORMATION AND COPYRIGHTS
-
- Authored Content of the Web
- Creative Commons
- Software Use (Open Source Software)
- GNU and GPL (General Public License)
- LGPL (Lesser General Public License)
- BSD License
- EVALUATING, VERIFYING AND AUTHENTICATING INTERNET’S FREE INFORMATION
- Author Verification
- Purpose of Information in Review
- Information Objectivity Evaluation
- Accuracy of Information
- Reliability and Credibility of Information Presented
- Currency of Time
- Verification of Links
CHAPTER 2-16 | LIST OF INTERNET INFORMATION SOURCES
- ONLINE INFORMATION WEBSITES & ACCESS TOOLS
- Main Search Engines
- Search Results Aggregator (Meta-crawlers)
- The Specialized Search Engines
- Customized Meta-Search Engine
- Specialized Content Search Engines
- Based on Information Contribution
- Public Contributions
- Private Contributions
- Proprietary Search Engines
- Searchable Directories
- Public Directories
- General Public Directories
- Subject-Based or Domain Specific Public Directories
- Private Directories
- SEARCHABLE DEEP WEB
- Guest Registration
- Subscriptions (Paid or Free) Websites
- Membership Websites (Paid, Honorary or Free)
- Anonymous Browser for Deep Web (TOR Web Browser)
- Statistics and Opinions Websites
- International Organizations
- Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGO)
- Government Gateways or Government Resources
- Regional Data Collection Divide and Hierarchy of Government Collaborations
- Regional Cooperation [North America – USA, Canada and Mexico]
- Government Departments
- Third World Countries Census Reliability Issues [Case Illustrated]
- Use Case Example – South Asia
- Non-Profit Agencies
- Sectors Covered by NGO’s
- NGO’s Information Data Types Collected [Regional and Global Levels]
- Market Research Agencies
- Online Automated Data Collectors (“Bots Software”)
- Information from Public Records
- Restricted Information from Public Records
- People Search
- Information Archives Online
- Public Reviews Websites
- Business to Consumer (B2C) & Business to Business Reviews (B2B)
- Product Reviews by Specialists
- Computational Portals and Mathematical Knowledge
- Virtual E-Markets for E-Commerce – Price & Product Info
- Web Directories
- Wiki’s
- Biographies (Other Than Wiki)
- Online Libraries (Books, Journals, Magazines, Research Papers)
- News Aggregators
- Top Meta Crawlers [Processed News Search Engines]
- Top International News Agencies Web Portals (Source of Direct News)
- Journals & Articles Information Sources
- Online Open Library Search
- General Blogs Portals & Search Engine
- Subject Blog Websites and Portals
- Top Technology Blogs
- Top Medical Related Blogs
- Top Legal/Law Blogs
- Top Science Blogs
- Social Media Search
- Document Format Specific Search
- The Image Search
- Image Search Engines
- Keyword Searchable Images
- Reverse Image Search
- Hybrid of Keywords and Reverse Image Search
- Videos Search - Search Engines
- Informative Video Search Engines
- Document Format Search Engines for PDF, DOCX, XLS, PPT
CHAPTER 2-17 | RESEARCH PLANNING
- RESEARCH PLANNING – INTRODUCTION
- RESEARCH WORK ASSESSMENT AND APPROACH
- Building Understanding of Clients Perspective
- Scoping the Research Project
- Defining a Research Topic
- Identify Research Problem
- Identifying the Primary Audience
- Identify Information Types and Source
- Information Needs of Research Project
- Information Delivery Mediums
- Print Medium and Digitized Information
CHAPTER 2-18 | ONLINE DATA TYPES, COLLECTION & SAMPLING
- DATA COLLECTION
- BASIS OR APPROACH TO DATA COLLECTION
- Qualitative Data
- Quantitative Data
- Mixed Method Approach
- Data Collections According to Qualitative, Quantitative or Mixed Approach
- Observations
- Surveys and Polls
- Interviews
- Focus Groups
- Document Studies
- Case Studies
- Data Types
- Quantitative Data Types
- Continuous Data
- Discrete Data
- Qualitative Data Types
- Binary Data
- Nominal Data or Unordered Data
- Ordinal Data
- Interval Data
- Ratio Data
- Data Sampling Methods
- Probability Sampling Techniques
- Simple Random Sampling
- Stratified Sampling
- Systematic Sampling
- Cluster Sampling
- Multi-Stage Sampling
- Multi-Phase Sampling
- Non-Probability Sampling Techniques
- Convenience Oriented Sampling
- Purposive Sampling
- Quota Based Sampling
- Snowballing Sampling]
- Volunteered Sampling
- DATA ANALYSIS, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
- Data Analysis - Introduction
- Data Analysis Planning – Brief View
- Quantitative & Qualitative Data Analysis
- Analyzing Qualitative Data
- Types of Qualitative Data Analysis
- Qualitative Data Analytics Strategies
- Analyzing Quantitative Data
- Statistical Methods in Quantitative Data Analysis
- Measures of Central Tendency - Mean, Mode, Median
- Measures of Variability/Deviation
- The Range
- The Standard Deviation
- Relative Changes or Proportionate Percentages Measurement
- Events and Data Frequency Measurement
- Univariate, Bivariate and Multivariate Analysis
CHAPTER 2-19 | INFORMATION RELIABILITY & ASSOCIATED RISKS
- INFORMATION RELIABILITY & QUALITY
- Credentials of the Author
- Footnotes and Bibliography
- Observing the Objectivity and Accuracy of a Website
- Check for the Logical Consistency in the Material/Content
- Information Ready Access & Availability
- Relevance of Information
- Cost of Information Vs. Benefits
- Time Sensitive Information
- INFORMATION HANDLING RISKS
- Frequency of Information Changes
- Security of Information
- Information Involves a Human Subject
- Information use that is an Intellectual Property
- DERIVING INFERENCES AND INTERPRETING RESEARCH RESULTS
- DRAWING CONCLUSIONS AND PROJECT FINAL DELIVERABLE
The Business of Research is an important module for those Research Professionals that are interested in setting up their independent research services practice as Independent Research Specialists. The main objective of this module is to provide a basic understanding of how to set-up an Independent Research Services Business and how to effectively manage small business operations? - The topics are intended to familiarize students with essential elements of business management that provide valuable insight into SMB (Small to Medium Size Business) operational issues, along with the business risks attached and both the advantages and disadvantages of working independently.
This module also includes topics that explain several steps required from the time the client research proposal is drafted and later how it gets executed and ultimately delivered to the client. Other aspects of business operations such as Accounting, Billing, Project Pricing and Projects Costing are also included in this module.
Internet Law also referred to as "Cyber Law" encompasses all transactions and activities on the internet. The collaborative nature of the internet and its vast expansion has led to numerous legal challenges making "Internet Law" a critical perspective concerning the internet. The objective of this module is to introduce research specialists to the domain of legalities on the internet and teach them how to minimize their liabilities and mitigate legal risks.
This module is about Internet Ethical Issues of the Internet compliments the legal framework of legal rights, responsibilities, and obligations. In conducting effective internet research, having a thorough understanding of the ethical challenges facing internet research, and tackling them accordingly is a necessity. Ethical issues challenge researchers in many ways. These usually involve consumer rights and responsibilities towards them and society. It explains the language of right and wrong, moral decisions - what is good and bad? Etc.
You can use a variety of online resources to enhance the Official CIRS Courseware. [The following resources are available to registered students who have purchased Training Material]:
