Assessing Information Needs of Undergraduates
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Transcript of Assessing Information Needs of Undergraduates
Micah VandegriftLIS5203 – Assessing Info NeedsDr. Paul MartySpring 2010
“The Undergrad”, Information Behaviors and Beyond!
The study of information behavior is a complicated task. It is both a social science
and an art, dealing not only with the statistical data but also the habits and lifestyles of
people engaging with their worlds. Throughout the history and growth of the field,
numerous studies are conducted attempting to pin down the best practices for measuring
how, why and in what contexts people seek out information, and then how they use,
modify or share it. As one could imagine, the variety of variables at play in any given
research situation can be overwhelming. Adaptations in the field, and generally in the
social sciences as a whole, have developed methods and models for more focused
analysis, in hopes to produce good valuable research that provides a base from which to
grow. Narrowing the field of study is one such way that researchers work with broad
categories.
A social role of particular interest to many in the field of Library and Information
Studies is undergraduate students. For many reasons, some of which will be discussed
herein, the undergraduate “user population” presents significant alterations in their
information behaviors over the course of their transition from high school, through
college and beyond. Studying students also can give indications to broader sociological
and information behavioral contexts, as going through college is a life transition that
many people undergo. The undergraduate user group is generally inquisitive, broadly
varied in their interests, open to many new ideas and concepts, and most importantly
learning and developing significant skills in their information behaviors through the
processes of writing, researching and (for many) infotainment. Through an overview of
published literature on the information behaviors of undergraduates, one can begin to see
the major research questions produced by researchers, and with close analysis, come to
an understanding of where this research may need to be directed in the future.
The Group
Undergrads are a prime market for the type of research for reasons often cited
across much of the research in this area. The category “undergrad” while narrowing the
broader context of “student” is still varied enough to represent a good sample of data. For
instance, Vicki Tolar Burton and Scott A. Chadwick’s (2000) study Investigating the
Practices of Student Researchers: Patterns of Use and Criteria for Use of Internet and
Library Sources drew students from senior to freshman, with a median age of 21.13, from
97 different majors and the data were compiled concerning research behaviors in major
courses as well as electives (Burton and Chadwick, p. 314). Also, across the population
of undergrads there are apt to be multiple subsets of information behaviors, and this
population, as aforementioned, is prone to a significant amount of information uses. Also,
this group is often in the midst of becoming cognizant of their own information
needs/wants and therefore, in addressing those needs, they may be more inclined to
acknowledge and share those patterns with researchers. Many undergraduates are focused
on personal and intellectual growth, leading them to be extraordinary cases for
sociological study.
Another point that is reflected in much of the literature on info seeking and
gathering of undergrads, is the plain and simple fact that they are required to do research,
whether they like it or not, and that necessity of their position to be constantly engaged
with various information sources (libraries, texts, media, internet, peers and professors)
reinforces this group as a prime study sample. In fact, a majority of the studies consulted
for this paper focused on that point singularly, despite different end goals and
expectations, the best source for observation was the undergraduate’s propensity toward
research for their coursework. The age, gender, race and cultural heritage of
undergraduates also played into studies on their information behaviors, again offering
sub-contexts of society. Overall, the undergraduate population is not only consistently
ripe for study but also multi-varied and offering a multitude of vantage points for
research.
The Research
Published articles on the topic of information behaviors of undergrads are as vast
as the population itself. For purposes of this particular review, the articles assessed were
focused in the years 2000 – 2009, with only several outside that spectrum. This filter was
chosen to capture a portrait of not just the group studied but also the growth and
movement of the literature in the field, especially well into the age of the internet. As is
acknowledged in information studies of all types, web searching is one of the factors that
is rapidly evolving the way people access and share information, and the undergraduate
population throughout the years has been at the forefront of this movement. Not only
have there been significant changes from the user population, but also the field itself has
modified methods and best practices for conducting research in this area. In order to
accurately gauge these progressions, a brief overview of the major research questions in
this area is essential.
Two key points resonating across many of the studies on undergraduate
information behaviors are the necessary complications inherent in studying a group that is
so proximal to the researchers themselves, and how best to develop the modes and
method of studying this population while still collecting good, useful data. Many of the
studies consulted for this paper were done in academic settings, either as part of a
graduate student’s research, or as a larger body of work for Library and Information
Studies (LIS) professors. As an example of this self-critique in the field Daniel Callison
(1997), in one of the earlier studies reviewed, points out in his article Evolution of
Methods to Measure Student Information Use that “the case study method has, in most
recent years compared to investigations of 20 to 30 years ago, become established as the
primary research technique used to document student thought processes in topic focus
and in source selection” (Callison, pg. 347), signifying a major shift in how the
researchers are choosing to interact with their subjects. He goes on to reinforce the idea
that the focus of research on undergraduates is on their information uses and that the
collection and review of undergraduate’s information seeking and collecting behaviors is
only useful to a certain extent. The introspective nature of the LIS research practices
provides a consistent body of work that not only builds on but also advances itself by
reexamining methods and practices, as many of the articles for this project do.
Specifically related to the user population of undergraduates, the 20 articles
reviewed for this paper tend group around a few common themes: student practices
(Information needs, seeking and uses) and student attitudes about information. Hiller
(2001), McFadden (2001), Whitmire (2002) and Given (2002) all center around the
students’ involvement in the academic library, ranging from everyday life information
seeking to the performance standards of libraries based on student’s success using their
resources. The institution of the academic library in the life of the undergraduate is
perhaps the most consequential area of research, since it is so much a part of the student
experience and there are such a variety of practices to draw from in that context. The
relationship of the undergraduate to the academic library cannot be underestimated in
studies of information behaviors on this population group.
The connectedness of the student to library also takes another form in the research
on the topic. The students’ attitude toward their own information behaviors, in the space
the library and elsewhere in a university setting, was another general theme that arose.
Whitmire (2003), Gross (2007), Kwon (2008) and Warwick (2009) all contend with the
mental, emotional and intellectual friction that undergraduate students can and do
experience in their studies and information behaviors. Interestingly, the anxiety factor of
the students’ information uses stands out as a point of mention in these and other studies.
Kwon’s study particularly is devoted to discussing the correlations between critical
thinking skills and anxiety in library use, as undergraduates are employing large amounts
of mental effort to gather and analyze information for their own research projects. The
conclusion of many of the studies, including Kwon’s, is that the best practices for
alleviating student anxiety is to better train, prepare and teach the students about
information, its tools and resources, so that they may begin to see it as not only a source
of knowledge but a form of communication and an adaptable resource.
The major research questions proposed by the small group of articles selected for
this paper are wrapped up in the two major issues outlined above. First, are there best
methods or better means of conducting research on undergraduates than have been used
previously? Overall, the authors of these articles would agree that adaptation and
evolution of their researching tools is essential, and thus is reflective of the field as a
whole. Second, what are the significant differences between how undergraduates relate to
information itself and to the information institutions (academic libraries)? Further, in
studying these interactions how should information professionals mediate these concerns
for students? This question seems to be at the core of most of these studies, defining what
issues may exist that are between undergraduates and productive information behaviors
and offering solutions to those issues. The general feeling and goal of these studies is to
uncover the deficits and propose plans of action that relate specifically to the information
needs of the specific population. Again, this is generally reflective of the field of LIS. A
third point, and the oft-understated one, is question of responsibility. Once the gaps are
pointed out and solutions offered, with who does the task of change lie? Is it the
librarians, professors, researchers, or students teaching themselves? To state it simply, the
most important issues facing the undergraduate student population are their
(un)productive relationship with information itself, their relationship with the primary
information institution (the academic library) and the relationship between all these
factors and the information professional. After viewing this sample of the published
literature on the subject of the information behaviors of undergraduates one can start to
pick out the areas that have received attention and in turn generate some ideas for the
areas that have not received enough study.
The Significant Points
The points that stand out as central in this literature are, in this case, addressed in
four of the articles used in this study. They are: the tendency toward satisficing in
information seeking (Warwick, Rimmer, et all, 2009), information literacy in estimation
and in actuality (Gross and Latham, 2007), demographics and background (Whitmire,
2001) and the overlap of information seeking for pleasure and for academic purpose
(Given, 2002). These four points of research certainly have many other articles written on
them, but, if the goals and aims of research in this area are to serve this population, these
areas remain necessary for further study. These points represent a good cross section of
the literature as a whole, and together they comprise a close to realistic profile of the
average undergraduate student. The importance of continuing studies in these areas
specifically is that while the field, the technologies and the researchers will evolve, the
average undergraduate will always follow similar patterns in adjusting to independent life
and academic responsibilities; they consistently tend to settle for path of least resistance
in research patterns (a reflection of Zipf’s Principle of Least Effort), overestimate their
own technological and research abilities, bring cultural heritage into their information
behaviors and blend their various roles into a conglomeration of information/infotainment
overload.
In addition to the areas pointed out by the published research, there are a few
areas where exploration would be useful. As many of the studies focused on the student’s
information seeking behaviors in terms of their academic role, a contrapuntal topic that
might prove interesting would be information seeking in terms of the student’s non-
academic role; what types of information needs are expressed, how it is satiated, and
ultimately how the information is used all in the context and role of undergraduate life,
but outside of purely academic parameters. Also, since the majority of the studies
reviewed herein were focused on formal source materials, it would be interesting to
conduct a study of undergraduate information behaviors as related to informal sources,
social networks, fellow students and non-academic web resources. Following these same
lines, it would be interesting to produce a specified study that would examine the
behaviors of freshmen vs. the behaviors of seniors to illustrate the sophistication, or lack
thereof, that comes from being surrounded by and inundated with the variety of
information experiences over the years as an undergraduate. Given (2002) scratched the
surface in this area with her study of “mature undergraduates,” a similar category to our
“returning student,” but the idea of maturation in information literacy seems to be a
viable area for continued examination.
The Future Study
An extension of research into the information behaviors of undergraduates is
necessary in order for the population to continue to be served. Designing new research
models and methodologies, as well as utilizing existing ones, will provide the Library and
Information Studies field with up to date, relevant data to accomplish this goal. As a
practice in application of research to practicality, the remainder of this paper will address
the perceived gaps outlined above by sketching a research strategy. The intention is to
increase the visibility of students’ non-formal and non-academic information behaviors as
a vital part of their demographic group and also their overall profile of information
interaction. The inclusion of behaviors outside the research papers and library use will
provide a better insight to the ways undergraduates relate to information, and ultimately
how media coincides with their academic work. The hypothesis for further study is that
undergraduate students’ media consumption has a much greater role in their information
behaviors than researching or library use, and so the field must be privy to new media
trends as a research case study.
Method
As pointed out in many of the studies in the literature review, adaptation of
methods over the last decade have played an important role in this area of study. The case
study method, involving interviews or surveys, as represented in this literature is most
often a longitudinal study, and may not remain to be the best method. Based on the
Savolainen model, where analysis of Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS) is the
primary goal, and with credence to the media theories like Uses and Gratifications, a
useful method for this study would be a hybrid of participant observation, self-reporting
and some sort of web monitoring where the subject of the study would be monitored by
researchers, track their own information behaviors and have them tracked via web
histories. There would be many concerns that would arise, privacy first among them, but
as privacy is becoming less of an apprehension for many students who are participating in
lifecasting activities that issue might be less of a concern than in the past. Also, as the
world is growing more connected through media daily, it is feasible to assume that some
population of undergraduates would be interested in a study of this sort for the purpose of
examining their own information behaviors for purpose of self-reflection or academic
interest. For this study, many of the issues of responsible research would also be a
concern, and would have to be confronted very carefully, but still the data collected could
be useful enough to spend time up front thinking through the issues to the best practice.
As for analysis of data collected, based on the variety of methods and data being
consulted, a meta-analytical approach would be best.
Practically, the study would be conducted in the following pattern: researchers
would present the study to students as a opportunity to analyze their daily information
behaviors for the purpose of placing that data against data on their academic research
behaviors. Participation in the study would on a volunteer basis, and the expectation
would be that the majority of students interested might come from
media/communications, and information based majors, but as even the humanities are
interested in digital practices, the hope is that a broad sample of students would
participate. The study would occur as a first installment over the course of one semester,
and students would agree to keep a journal of their online activities, either by writing it
down, or by using a social network like Delicious to mark their web use. Also,
researchers would encourage students to utilize other social internet tools to track their
behaviors. For instance, almost every site visited, and article read online now has a
“Share” button that could link to any number of social sites. A student could register for a
new account on a site like Twitter and effectively share content through that feed, which
could be tracked and cataloged by researchers. As the data were compiled, the
researchers would then begin their analysis by looking for trends, differentiations and
patterns in the non-academic, informal information behaviors of undergraduates and
comparing those results to the established research in the area.
An analysis of this type would be valuable in a few ways. Pairing the data
gathered from this study with the already researched information behaviors of
undergraduates would broaden the spectrum of general research of this population, and
allow for more in-depth analysis from angles. In addition, an important trend that seems
to be on the rise, social networking as information gathering, would gain some
reputability as a resource for study. Even a peripheral glance at contemporary
undergraduates would give cause to acknowledge that computing, researching and
general information behaviors are becoming more and more informal, networked and
deinstitutionalized. Utilizing the framework of research built up by the published authors
mentioned herein, and others, a new and forward study in this area could profoundly alter
the possibilities of additional research on this user population. Especially in the
educational climate where trends are pointing toward mobile computing as a major player
in content delivery and augmented reality as experiential learning, drawing research away
from term papers and library use is a pertinent and necessary step.
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