Interview Paper – Robyn Ward 1

Running Head: INTERVIEW PROJECT ANALYZING INFORMATION BEHAVIOR

Interview Project Analyzing Information Seeking Behavior

Robyn Ward

Emporia State University

 Interview Paper – Robyn Ward 2

Interview Project Analyzing Information Seeking Behavior

Purpose of this Paper

The purpose of this information need based study was to take an analytical

approach to thinking about information behavior in a personal context. This was done

through analyzing concepts such as the information need, the situation in which the need

arose, and also information seeking behavior of the individual user. These questions will

be looked at under the context of an individual information seeker who is currently

enrolled in a History graduate program.

Theoretical Models

First of all, the concept of information need should be addressed. Information

need differs from information wants or demands and is often ambiguous and not easily

articulated, (Morris, 1994, p. 25) Defining information behavior would also be beneficial

in taking a look at those areas that make up information behavior. In Wilson’s article

(1999) he suggested that the areas of information seeking and information searching

“nest” into the broader area of information behavior. Wilson goes on to define

information seeking as being “concerned with the variety of methods people employ to

discover, and gain access to information resources.” Information searching behavior is

defined as being concerned with “the interactions between information user and

computer-based information systems”. (Wilson, 1999, p. 263)

There are a number of models within the field of information science that attempt

to explain or demonstrate the information seeking process of individuals. Two models of

information-seeking behavior that will be discussed further in this paper are Carol

Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process (ISP) Model and Mike Eisenberg and Bob
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Berkowitz’s model the Big6. “A model may be described as a framework for thinking

about a problem and may evolve into a statement of the relationships among theoretical

propositions”. (Wilson, 1999, p. 250)

Carol Kuhlthau’s ISP Model focuses on an information seeker’s thoughts, feelings

and actions, which tend to fluctuate throughout the information searching process. The

interview performed for this paper fits in nicely with in the Kuhlthau model and will be

described in more detail. The information-seeking stages for Kuhlthau’s model consist of

six stages: (1) Initiation, (2) Selection, (3) Exploration, (4) Formulation, (5) Collection

and (6) Presentation. According to Kuhlthau (2006) during (1) Initiation stage an

individual becomes aware of his/her lack of knowledge or understanding to accomplish

an assignment. Feelings of uncertainty are prevalent in this stage. (2) The Selection stage

consists of identifying or selecting a topic for investigation. Feelings of uncertainty turn

to optimism during this stage. (3) Exploration stage is the investigation of information on

the topic in order to gain personal understanding. Feelings of uncertainty, doubt and

confusion can creep in during Exploration. (4) Formulation stage consists of forming a

focus from the information found during the Exploration stage. Signs of confidence and

clear understanding emerge. During the (5) Collection stage the individual gathers

information determined relevant for the topic. Interest in the project deepens and

information becomes clear to the searcher. The last stage, (6) Presentation, is where the

individual completes the search process and personalizes the information in order to

articulate to others the findings and meanings of the topic. Kulthau also expressed that

information seeking consists of finding meaning rather than finding the answers. Morris

(1994) iterates that one thing that is crucial to Kuhlthau’s model is the “uncertainty
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principle”. This is the state at which one finds themselves during the initial stages of the

research process. A key factor to the Kuhlthau theory is the “affective state of the user

during the research process”. (Morris, 1994, p. 24) Kuhlthau’s model is very applicable

when looking at information searching behavior. It is very cyclical and the process is

flexible regarding what stage and feeling a researcher can visit and revisit until he/she

reach their information need objectives and reach some sort of satisfaction.

The second model that will be discussed is Eisenberg & Berdowitz’s Big6 Skills

Model. This seems to take a linear approach to information searching though this is

contrary to what is proposed on the Big6 web site. The Big6 model consists of six stages

also: (1) Task Definition, (2) Information Seeking Strategies, (3) Location & Access, (4)

Use of Information, (5) Synthesis, and (6) Evaluation. (1) Task Definition consists of

defining the information problem and identifying the needed information. (2) Information

Seeking Strategies is determining all possible sources and selecting the best sources. (3)

Location & Access is locating sources and finding information within those sources. (4)

Use of information is to engage and extract relevant information. The (5) Synthesis stage

is to organize from multiple sources and present information. Finally, (6) Evaluation is

judging of the product and process. The Big6 model does not address what the

information searcher may be feeling or experiencing throughout the research process. But

the stages do fit in perfectly with the information process experienced by the individual

interviewed for this paper.

Methodology for Interview

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Prior to the interview of the information seeker, who will be named Alistair for

the purposes of this paper, the interviewer listed a number of questions in order to address

the following: to identify the information need that initiated the search, what were the

steps used in doing the search, what was the researchers rational for performing these

steps, what was the searcher’s feelings during the process, what was the evaluative

criteria for the search, what sort of assistance was used, were there any barriers during the

search process and if so what were they.

The interview took place in the staff lounge of the library, where both interviewer

and interviewee work. The interview took about an hour. The interview was also semi-

structured in that the interviewer had specific questions that needed to be addressed but

allowed the interviewee to guide the discussion and to articulate freely his information

searching experience. The interviewer took notes throughout the interview.

Results From the Interview

Alistair’s information need arose from a major research project for a graduate

level history course concerning Women of Early Modern England. The first step Alistair

took was to identify his research topic (Task Definition). He explained that his interest in

the history of printing is the focus of all of his research and therefore looks at a topic for

every information need he has within his graduate work from this perspective. He

identified his topic to be on women printers in England during this time period. He had

no prior knowledge of this topic. The next step was to determine all possible resources

on his topic (Information Seeking Strategies). Alistair searched the library catalog for

secondary sources on the topic. From these he was able to extract primary resources.

Alistair considers himself an advanced researcher and did not seek help from peers or a
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librarian during this stage of researching. Once Alistair located the sources he needed,

(Location & Access) which were all print and easily accessible through the

Washington/Oregon consortium online catalog Summit, he read the books and articles he

was able to obtain in order to extract relevant information for his research (Use of

Information). After Alistair felt like he had exhausted his resources, he contacted the

main researcher, a scholar located in England, on the topic through e-mail

correspondence. He wanted to get confirmation that he was on right track with resources

he was using for his research and if there was any information that he was missing.

Through this correspondence he was able to find out that yes he was on track and had

pretty much exhausted the information that had been written on the topic, which wasn’t

much. He was also able to get information about an article published in Germany that

was a historiography of the research done on the topic. This article turned out to be a vital

part of his research. He was able to receive this document through Interlibrary Loan from

the University of Michigan. Alistair’s intent with any project or research with which he

is involved is to produce something new that can be useful for scholarship. He found

through his reading that most of the research done on his topic was case studies. He

didn’t want to do another case study so he analyzed all of the information that hadn’t

been analyzed before and extracted information to do his own analysis of women printers

in early modern England (Synthesis). He felt positive with the results and felt satisfied

with what he had produced (Evaluation).

Part of Kuhlthau’s model regarding the “uncertainty principle” should be

addressed when looking at Alistair’s search experience. He indicated that one of the

biggest barriers for this topic was coming up with the initial set of questions he needed to
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ask himself for his research. He experienced this again after he thought he had exhausted

his resources and was wondering if he was on the right track or not. This lead him to

contact the main authority on the topic for reinforcement. He also consulted with his

teacher throughout the project to make sure he was doing what was expected for the

project.

Discussion and Conclusion

Alistair’s information-seeking behavior emulated the Big6 model. His

information seeking behavior seemed quite linear for this particular project. Alistair

suggests that this is usually not the case. He also indicated that he usually starts

completely over with a new research topic rather than alter his search strategy. Alistair is

extremely confident in his research abilities and is very information literate. He is an

accomplished researcher and enjoys producing scholarship.

Individual factors such as personal characteristics, knowledge, cognitive state and

learning style play big roles within the information search process. This can be seen

through the interview. Other outside factors that need to be considered when looking at

information search behavior are time and physical location. What time constraints is the

researcher under? Alistair indicated that time was a huge factor that affected his research.

He felt that he could have used more time and with that time he would have delved in

deeper into the secondary sources. He also felt the physical location was also a barrier

since much of the research was done in England. But because of the emergence of the

Web, this has alleviated a lot of those physical constraints. He also indicated that his lack

of knowledge about 16th and 17th century England may have caused his research to be

lacking. In conjunction with his, he felt that his research probably failed in some respects
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because he couldn’t possibly look at the outside factors that influenced women printers

during that time period in England. Another interesting perspective from the interviewee

was that he sometimes felt like he was “faking” it through the research process because it

seemed so straightforward.

The implications of this study are that information needs, situations, and seeking

behavior are all contingent upon the individual and the circumstance under which he or

she is found. The information seeking models are a guide and can be useful in analyzing

specific information processes and to make sense of what is going on. But through this

study it has been found that so many other factors must be considered. Information

searching behavior, learning-styles, barriers and outside forces all need to be considered

when analyzing an individual’s information need.

Bibliography
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Eisenburg, M. & Berkowitz, B. (2006). A Big6 skills overview. Retrieved November 16,

2006 from http://www.big6.com/showarticle.php?id=16

Kuhlthau, C. (2006). Information search process. Retrieved November 16, 2006 from

http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/information_search_process.htm

Morris, R. C. T. (1994). Toward a user-centered information service. Journal of the

American Society for Information Science, 45 (1), 20-30.

Wilson, T. D. (1999). Models in information behaviour research. The Journal of

Documentation, 55(3), 249-270.

Appendix
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Interview Questions and Answers

Q. Describe your information need, problem or question.

A. A major research project for graduate history class, Women in Early Modern England.

Q. Did you have any prior knowledge of the subject or topic?

A. I had no prior knowledge of the subject.

Q. What did you do to try to solve your problem or answer your question?

A. Resources finding information for this particular topic seemed to be a challenge, not

like my usual classes that focus on American history. To focus on a topic for the research

paper, What I usually do is come up with an idea that is of interest, I am interested in the

History of Printing and focus most of my research on this topic, so for this particular

course, I wanted to focus my research on female printers and publishers in the 16th and

17th centuries. I go about finding secondary sources before primary resources. I did quite

a bit of reading first in order to get an idea of the topic and what was out there. I came to

the conclusion that women were working in the print trade and got a sense of how that

worked from second hand source material. From the secondary sources I got the

information for the primary resources. (Jeremy indicated that this is his usual research

method when searching on a topic of which he knows little about.

Q. Where did you go to find your information?

A. After I pinpointed primary sources, I made a list of these resources. I wanted to make

sure that I covered the topic completely so I emailed a scholar living in England that had

done most research on the topic. I don’t beat around the bush when doing research. She

emailed back and told me that I had covered most everything out there. She gave me a

couple more sources to look at. I also consulted with the person teaching the class
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throughout the duration of the project. I also consulted with a colleague who knows a lot

about English literature. I didn’t go to reference librarians for assistance. At this point I

don’t need help with finding secondary source materials. I can go directly to the source of

who is writing currently in the subject area to get more information. Most of my

information was print. I didn’t have to really request for other materials.

Q. What was your process for finding your secondary resources?

A. I searched Summit (shared online catalog) first by keyword to see what is out there

and to narrow down vocabulary. I then searched in a handful of journal databases. If I am

not finding anything, I pull a print item to look through for information and ideas, and

usually change what I am looking for if not on the right track. I found an article

published in Germany. I requested through ILL. It was a historiography, once I had that in

hand that was really helpful. I got great information from the History of Publishing

journal printed in England. This is from where I got my scholar contact and she is the one

that pointed me to the journal published in Germany. I got the article from University of

Michigan.

Q. How did you feel about your experience as you did your research?

A. For this particular project I thought it would be more difficult, but most of the

documentation was there and wasn’t too bad, but I have experienced frustration on other

projects. The hardest part is getting over that initial part or initial question. The initial set

of sources was easy coming up with. (His question was not difficult sine it was something

that he was able to define and choose for himself. The subject was interesting to him.

When considering his research topic he needed to incorporate his interest of the history of

printing with what the professor wanted and also have it fit within the confines of the
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class.)

Q. What did you feel about the resources/results after searching?

A. There wasn’t a whole lot written on the subject. There were a lot of case studies, but I

didn’t want to do a case study. I wanted to get an overall view/picture integrating what

had already been done before. I looked at the whole 17th century and did a statistical

analysis, looking at major factors influencing female printers. I used these resources to

get a picture of patterns, basic questions that hadn’t been asked or answered. I needed

those questions answered so I went about answering them for myself thru statistics,

looking at influential factors. My approach to a subject works differently for every

project.

Q. What got in the way of finding helpful sources? Were there any barriers that you came

across during your research?

A. Coming up with a set of questions. In American History there are so many resources.

Research process is more obvious, easier to find something that no one has done anything

with. Initial research is usually of the case study variety. It consists of a larger analysis

where you are trying to bring together other research that is more interesting but a lot

more challenging. The amount of reading is challenging. The lack of knowledge of what

was going on at England at the time was a weakness by not having that knowledge of

other factors that couldn’t be considered.

Q. Any time constraints?

A. I didn’t have a lot of time. The term was only ten weeks. There were really tight

deadlines for everything. By the first week I had to have my topic. For the second and

third weeks I had to have my resources. This time constraint really influenced the
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research process a lot. I would have done a lot more reading. I would have done more

reading through my Secondary sources. I really had to process through those quickly.

The time constraint led me to email the scholar in England about my sources and other

sources out there on my topic to get a definitive idea about what I was doing and also to

see if I was on the right track. If I had more time I may not have done this until later in

the research process.

Q. What were you trying to accomplish using your resources?

A. My research was really grounded in secondary source material. For graduate level

research it is a big deal because the resources help with analysis and comprehension of a

topic. I try to produce something that is useful to scholarship. Unfortunately I feel that

Academia is more concerned with just getting through the process with learning research

and writing. I have been spending three years reading for my graduate thesis.

Q. What were your feelings and thoughts during the process?

A. I didn’t have enough time. Occasionally I felt like I was faking it, but actually felt like

I did something, which was a good feeling. I definitely felt rushed. I enjoy research and

the writing. I usually procrastinate on writing.

Q. Any outside factors that influenced your research?

A. Physical location was a factor. It is a really big deal. This physical factor is now

mediated by the web, but still is a really big issue, especially in getting primary sources.

Having access to Oregon and Washington University systems is a big asset, rarely have to

use Interlibrary Loan (can use the Oregon/Washington shared catalog named Summit)

I feel I can do a really good job with sources I have available. For this project the primary

sources were available in print and I could physically check them out from the library.
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Q. Was there anything left unanswered?

A. Yes, probably, the motivations of people and their thoughts are difficult to recreate.