6 On user studies and information needs.docx
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6Onuserstudiesandinformationneeds
6.Onuserstudiesandinformationneeds
T.D.Wilson
PostgraduateSchoolofLibrarianshipandInformationScience,UniversityofSheffield,Sheffield,UK
Abstract
Purpose:
Apartfrominformationretrievalthereisvirtuallynootherareaofinformationsciencethathasoccasionedasmuchresearcheffortandwritingas“userstudies”.Withinuserstudiestheinvestigationof“informationneeds”hasbeenthesubjectofmuchdebateandnolittleconfusion.Theaimofthispaperistoattempttoreducethisconfusionbydevotingattentiontothedefinitionofsomeconceptsandbyproposingthebasisforatheoryofthemotivationsforinformation-seekingbehaviour.
Design/methodology/approach:
Thepaperdescribestheissuesofuserstudiesandinformationneedswithinthecontextofinformationscience.
Findings:
Thepaperfindsthattheproblemseemstolie,notsomuchwiththelackofasingledefinition,aswithafailuretouseadefinitionappropriatetothelevelandpurposeoftheinvestigation.
Originality/value:
Theanalysismaybeusedasaspringboardtoresearchbaseduponawider,holisticviewoftheinformationuser.
Keywords:
Informationscience,Informationretrieval,Userstudies
Papertype:
Researchpaper
Introduction
Apartfrominformationretrievalthereisvirtuallynootherareaofinformationsciencethathasoccasionedasmuchresearcheffortandwritingas“userstudies”.Withinuserstudiestheinvestigationof“informationneeds”hasbeenthesubjectofmuchdebateandnolittleconfusion.Theaimofthispaperistoattempttoreducethisconfusionbydevotingattentiontothedefinitionofsomeconceptsandbyproposingthebasisforatheoryofthemotivationsforinformation-seekingbehaviour.
Information
Partofthedifficultywith“informationneeds”lieswiththetroublesomeconcept“information”.Numerousdefinitionshavebeenevolved,seekingtodistinguish,forexample,among“data”,“information”and“knowledge”,andrecentlytherehavebeenattemptsatasingleconceptofinformationforinformationscience.
However,theproblemseemstolie,notsomuchwiththelackofasingledefinitionaswithafailuretouseadefinitionappropriatetothelevelandpurposeoftheinvestigation.Theword“information”isused,inthecontextofuser-studiesresearch,todenoteaphysicalentityorphenomenon(asinthecaseofquestionsrelatingtothenumberofbooksreadinaperiodoftime,thenumberofjournalssubscribedto,etc.),thechannelofcommunicationthroughwhichmessagesaretransferred(aswhenwespeakoftheincidenceoforalversuswritteninformation),orthefactualdata,empiricallydeterminedandpresentedinadocumentortransmittedorally.
Thesituationisfurthercomplicatedbythefactthatdistinctionsmayormaynotbemadeamong“facts”,“advice”and“opinion”.Thedistinction,ofcourse,isthatthefirstoftheseisassumed(notalwayscorrectly)tobefreeofvaluejudgements,whereasvaluejudgementsalmostcertainlyaffectadviceandopinion.
Thesemultipleusesoftheterm“information”causeconfusionbecauseresearcherssometimesfailtodistinguishbetweenonesenseandanother,orsimplyleavethereadertodiscoverwhichsenseismeantbyreadingthepaperorreport.Eventhenitissometimesunclearwhichofthesensestheresearcherhadinmindwhensettingtheresearchobjectives.
Userstudies
Figure1presentsawayofthinkingofthefield,“userstudies”;itsaimisnotto“model”information-seekingbehaviourbuttodrawattentiontotheinterrelationshipsamongconceptsusedinthefield.Thefiguresuggeststhatinformation-seekingbehaviourresultsfromtherecognitionofsomeneed,perceivedbytheuser.Thatbehaviourmaytakeseveralforms:
forexample,theusermaymakedemandsuponformalsystemsthatarecustomarilydefinedasinformationsystems(suchaslibraries,on-lineservices,Prestelorinformationcentres),oruponsystemswhichmayperforminformationfunctionsinadditiontoaprimary,non-informationfunction(suchasestateagents’officesorcarsalesagencies,bothofwhichareconcernedwithselling,butwhichmaybeusedtoobtaininformationoncurrentprices,areasof“suitable”housing,ordetailsofcarsthatholdtheirsecond-handvalue).
Alternatively,theusermayseekinformationfromotherpeople,ratherthanfromsystems,andthisisexpressedinthediagramasinvolving“informationexchange”.Theuseoftheword“exchange”isintendedtodrawattentiontotheelementofreciprocity,recognizedbysociologistsandsocialpsychologistsasafundamentalaspectofhumaninteraction.Intermsofinformationbehaviour,theideaofreciprocitymaybefairlyweakinsomecases(aswhenajuniorscientistseeksinformationfromaseniorbuthierarchicallyequalcolleague)butinothercasesmaybesostrongthattheprocessisinhibited,aswhenasubordinatepersoninahierarchyfearstorevealhisignorancetoasuperior.
Inanyoftheabovecasesofinformation-seekingbehaviour,“failure”maybeexperienced:
thisisindicatedinthediagramfortheuseofsystemsbut,ofcourse,itmayalsobeexperiencedwhenseekinginformationfromotherpeople.
Whateverthesourceoftheinformationitwillatsomepointbe“used”,ifonlyinthesenseofbeingevaluatedtodiscoveritsrelationshiptotheuser’sneed.That“use”maysatisfyorfailtosatisfytheneedand,ineitherevent,mayalsoberecognizedasbeingofpotentialrelevancetotheneedofanotherpersonand,consequently,maybe“transferred”tosuchaperson.
Althoughalloftheseareasareofpotentialinteresttothefieldofuserstudies,attentionhasbeengiveninthepastchieflytothedemandspeoplemakeuponformalinformationsystems.Curiously,informationuse(whichoughttopointmostdirectlytotheneedsexperiencedbypeople)isoneofthemostneglectedareas;and“informationexchange”asdefinedherehastendedtofallwithinthesphereofinterestofsociologistsandorganizationaltheoristsratherthanwithinthatofinformationscientists.
“Information”inthefiguremaybeunderstoodinanyofthesensesmentionedearlier.Thus,ininformationexchange,anindividualmaybelookingforfacts,adviceoropinions,andmayreceiveanyoftheseeitherinwritingororally.Sometimesthechannelitselfmaybeofoverridingsignificance,aswhenorallygivenadvicemaybepreferredoveranythinginwriting.Again,ausermaybeinterestedinaspecificdocumentasaphysicalentity,asintheexpressionofaneedtoviewvariantcopiesofanincunabulum.Ininformationtransferitmaybeafact,anopinionorapieceofadvicethatistransferredorally,oraphysicaldocument“containing”thefact,opinionoradvicemaybegiventoanotherperson.Wecanchoosetostudythefacts,ideas,adviceoropinions,orthenatureanddistributionofthedocumentary“containers”.Inanyevent,whentheterm“userstudy”isemployedthespecificsub-fieldshouldbespecified,andtheaspectoraspectsof“information”underconsiderationshouldbedefined.
Figure1.Amodelofinformationbehaviour
Informationneeds
Withinthefieldofuserstudiestheinvestigationof“informationneeds”haspresentedseeminglyintractableproblems.Ifwedateuserstudiesfrom1948andtheRoyalSocietyScientificInformationConference(RoyalSociety,1948),withitsseveralsurveysofusers’information-seekingbehaviour,thentheprogresstowardssometheoreticalunderstandingoftheconceptof“informationneed”hasbeenslow.ThisfactisrecognizedbyvirtuallyeverycommentatoronthesubjectfromMenzel(1960);andPaisley(1965)throughthevariousauthorsintheARISTvolumes,toFord’sreviewof1977.Aswellasdrawingattentiontothisfact,theauthorshavetriedtodiscoverwhyitissoandhavegenerallyconcludedthatthereasonliesininadequatemethodologyandthefailuretodoresearchthatis“cumulative”.Attentionhasalsobeenpaidtothedefinitionalproblemof“informationneed”[1]andthedifficultyofseparatingtheconceptfrom“wants”,“expresseddemand”,“satisfieddemand”andsoon.However,whilemuchofthisworkisveryuseful,theproblemremainsgenerallyunresolved.
Partly,thisistheresultofafailuretoidentifythecontextwithinwhichinformationneedsinvestigationsarecarriedout.Figure2[2]isanattempttoshowsomeofthepossiblecontexts.(Figure1maybethoughtofasasub-graphofFigure2,centredontheuser.)Itisdifficultinanytwo-dimensionaldiagramtoconveythecomplexityofthe“real”worldandabstractelementsofthatrealworld.The“universeofknowledge”,forexample,isanabstractconcept,whichembracesallknowledge-relatedobjects,eventsandphenomenaand,assuch,clearlyinteractswiththe“physicaluniverse”.Toshowthecomplexinteractionsofthephysicalandabstractuniverses,however,wouldinvolveamulti-dimensionaldiagramwhichwouldbeextremelydifficult,ifnotimpossible,toexpressuponasheetofpaper.Acceptingthatdifficulty,however,the“user’slifeworld”canbedefinedasthetotalityofexperiencescentredupontheindividualasaninformationuser.Withinthislife-worldoneimportantsub-worldwillbetheworldofwork,withinwhichwillexistvarious“referencegroups”withwhichtheuseridentifies:
fellowprofessionals,thepeergroupwithinanorganizationandsoon.
Figure2.Thecontextofinformationseeking
Theuserwillbeincontactwithavarietyof“informationsystems”,onlyoneofwhichisshowninthediagram,hencetheindicatedoverlapwiththeuserandhislife-world.Withintheinformationsystemtwosubsystemsareshown:
the“mediator”(generallyalivingsystem,i.e.ahumanbeing)andthe“technology”,usedhereinthegeneralsenseofwhatever