Thesis

Uncertainty in information seeking and retrieval in the context of higher education

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Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2008
Thesis identifier
  • T12236
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Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • Human information behaviour is an area of research that deals with different aspects of information seeking and retrieval. The increase in information availability on the web has significantly influenced information seeking and retrieval. Several issues relating to information seeking and retrieval in a digital environment still remain unexplored and uncertainty is one of them. Uncertainty is an important concept within human information behaviour research, and the general belief is that uncertainty decreases in the course of an information seeking and retrieval process, until eventually it disappears. However, in today's digital environment, uncertainty may be caused by a number of factors, and such uncertainty may persist throughout, or even after completion of, the information seeking and retrieval process. The general objective of this research was to study whether uncertainty occurs at different stages of the information seeking and retrieval process in a digital information environment in the context of higher education. This research also aimed to identify whether or not uncertainty persists in an information seeking and retrieval process and also if there is any uncertainty shift in course of a series of information seeking and retrieval processes. A number of techniques, i. e. online questionnaire, in-depth interviews, pre and post-search questionnaire, task-based search, and talk aloud were used to collect data for this research. Results show that some form of uncertainty is always associated with the information seeking and retrieval process and that there is an uncertainty shift in relation to a series of successive searches. Based on the results of this research, a new model of uncertainty in information seeking and retrieval has been proposed which will assist in designing improved information systems for easy and better digital information access and use.
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DOI
EThOS ID
  • uk.bl.ethos.501804
Date Created
  • 2008
Former identifier
  • 795945

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