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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