This study involved a qualitative investigation of consulting engineers' information needs and information-seeking behaviour within the context of their project-related work roles and tasks. The research design includes a study of various information behaviour models, a systematic review of the subject literature and the exploration of relevant qualitative research methods. Data was collected through time-line interviews. The findings show how consulting engineers' work roles and tasks determine their information needs during various engineering project stages. These factors also determine the use of various sources during information seeking. Consulting engineers use a variety of information sources but rely mainly on interpersonal communication to gather information. Digital cameras are used by consulting engineers to record progress in a project. They also use Internet technologies such as email and FTP sites to communicate project related information. Recommendations were put forward for the development of an Internet-based information service for consulting engineers. / Information science / M.Inf.

The aim of this study was to investigate the use of electronic information resources by postgraduate students at UNISA Regional Learning Centre in Ethiopia and to identify the problems they experience when using the UNISA online library. The literature review focuses on students’ information-seeking behaviour, with a particular emphasis on their usage of electronic information resources. Previous studies indicated that the context in which students’ information needs and their information-seeking behaviour arise can be determined by contextual and personal elements or factors. This study adopted a qualitative case study approach. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data from eight postgraduate students which were conveniently selected. The data were analysed by using a thematic data analysis technique. The study established that the majority of the respondents used electronic information resources. However, the availability of Internet connections and electricity determined the frequency with which e-resources were used. The students used information resources for various purposes, including for course work, doing assignments, preparing for examination, writing proposals, for literature reviews, for writing Master’s dissertations and doctoral theses, and for research. The study revealed that postgraduate students had basic computer and information literacy skills; however, they lacked more advanced skills and this negatively affected their usage of electronic information resources. The findings also reported that a lack of ICT infrastructure, such as limited Internet access, inadequate Internet connectivity and frequent electric power interruptions were the main factors that affected postgraduate students’ electronic information-seeking behaviour. Besides, the remoteness and poor facilities of the Akaki Branch Library also had a negative impact on students’ information usage. Recommendations are made in order to maximise the utilisation of electronic information resources and address students’ skills deficiencies experienced while they are using electronic information resource. / Information Science / M. A. (Information Science)

The study aimed to examine high school student usage of licensed databases available through public libraries in Atlanta-USA. A descriptive quantitative survey was conducted via a web-based questionnaire among 135 East Cobb high school students. The findings revealed that most students are aware of these licensed databases, but their usage is low (1:10) compared to Google. However, as students advance in grade levels, their database usage increases and GALILEO is the most-used licensed resource. Factors that influence student database usage include: specific academic needs; teacher instruction to use specific databases and frequent Digital Information Literacy (DIL) instruction. Most students receive DIL instruction at school, but their DIL skills are still inadequate. To increase usage of licensed databases as reliable information resources, the study recommends collaboration between public libraries and high schools, including incorporation of Generation Y's digital information preferences such as Google-type simplified interfaces, cutting-edge technology and time-saving search features. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

Access and use of information facilitate the improvement of agriculture in rural areas. It is therefore important to ensure that adequate and appropriate information flows to the rural areas, and that farmers are able to utilise it. This study investigated the access and use of poultry management information in three rural districts of Tanzania, namely Iringa Rural, Morogoro Rural and Mvomero. The survey method, supplemented by methodological triangulation, was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 360 poultry farmers in the selected rural communities. Sixteen focus group discussions were conducted, in which 160 farmers participated. Twenty-two information providers were interviewed. The SPSS® software was used to analyse quantitative data, while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The findings indicated that poultry farmers needed information on poultry disease control, poultry protection, shelter for poultry and poultry production. There was very low identification and prioritisation of farmers’ information needs by the information providers. Farmers accessed information that had a direct impact and was deemed relevant to their farming activities. It was revealed that farmers accessed information mainly from interpersonal sources. Likewise, farmers preferred interpersonal and informal sources to formal sources of information. The extension officers were considered to be the most effective information source, followed by family, friends, and neighbours. Various factors, such as lack of awareness, unavailability of extension officers and poor infrastructure, influenced access and use of poultry management information. It was concluded that most of the information providers were not aware of the farmers’ information needs, and as a result they were not in a position to disseminate relevant information. In addition, farmers were used to an oral culture, which means that they would probably continue to depend on interpersonal sources of information, regardless of the availability of formal channels and modern sources. The study recommended several measures, including the use of multiple sources of information and delivery of information in a variety of formats, in order to accommodate various categories of farmers. The study also suggested some areas for further research. Furthermore, a model for effective dissemination of poultry management information in rural areas was proposed. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação num ambiente ainda não explorado: os serviços de descoberta em rede. Para este fim, foi aplicada a metodologia da teoria fundamentada, o que permitiu conduzir, controlar e organizar a coleta de dados. Os dados formaram a base da teoria e a análise dos mesmos originou os conceitos que foram construídos. Os dados foram coletados durante a interação dos entrevistados com o serviço de descoberta em rede enquanto realizavam tarefas de busca e recuperação da informação. Os entrevistados foram selecionados aleatoriamente entre os usuários das bibliotecas da Universidad Complutense de Madrid. O modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação encontrado sugere duas etapas. O comportamento durante a busca relaciona-se com a maneira como os entrevistados reconhecem o problema, como exploram as opções de busca e como distinguem a informação para formular a expressão de busca. O comportamento de recuperação está relacionado à navegação e à diferenciação até a obtenção de uma lista de resultados considerados satisfatórios. A partir da lista de resultados é declarada a solução do problema por meio do reconhecimento da relevância, avaliação das fontes e seleção da informação. O referido modelo foi confrontado com modelos já referendados. Foram identificadas semelhanças com aqueles que pretendem entender o comportamento do usuário de forma mais ampla, levando em conta sua história, valores, contexto no qual está inserido e conhecimentos construídos a partir das experiências anteriores. Além disso, a pesquisa pretende colaborar com os aspectos metodológicos relacionados ao entendimento e a construção de uma teoria fundamentada. Conclui-se que é necessário proporcionar um maior conhecimento, aumentar a compreensão e fornecer um guia para a ação, com foco no usuário, para a adoção de serviços de descoberta de web em bibliotecas universitárias. Sugere aprimoramentos na sua customização e treinamentos para dotar os usuários de condições que lhes permitam extrair o máximo proveito possível das potencialidades deste tipo de ferramenta. / This research work aimed to develop a model of information seeking and retrieval behavior in an environment yet unexplored: the web discovery services. To this end, grounded theory methodologies were applied, which enabled the driving, tracking, and organizing of data collection. The data formed the basis of the theory and data analysis originated the concepts that were built. Data was collected during the interaction of interviewees with the web discovery service while performing tasks of information seeking and retrieval. The subjects were randomly selected from among the library users at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The information seeking and retrieval behavior model found suggests two steps. Behavior during searching is related to the way the respondents recognize the problem, exploit the searching options and distinguish information to formulate the expression. Behavior during information retrieval is related to navigation and differentiation to obtain a list of satisfactory results. From the list of results the solution of the problem is declared by recognizing the relevance, evaluation of sources and selection of information. The proposed model was confronted with models already established. Similarities to models that aim to understand user behavior more broadly, taking into account its history, values, context and knowledge constructed from previous experiences were identified. Besides, this research intends to collaborate with the methodological aspects related to the understanding and construction of a grounded theory. It concludes that is necessary to provide greater insight, enhance understanding and provide a guide to action, with a focus on the user, to the adoption of web discovery services in university libraries. It suggest customization and training to provide users with conditions that allow them to extract the maximum possible advantage of this type of tool. / Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo desarrollar un modelo de comportamiento para la búsqueda y recuperación de información en un entorno aún no explorado: las plataformas de descubrimiento. Para ello, se aplicó la metodología de la teoría fundamentada, lo que permitió dirigir, controlar y organizar la recopilación de datos. Los datos fueron la base de la teoría y del análisis se originaron los conceptos que fueron construidos. Los datos fueron recolectados durante la interacción de los participantes con la plataforma de descubrimiento mientras desempeñaban tareas de búsqueda y recuperación de información. Los encuestados fueron seleccionados al azar de entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. El modelo de comportamiento de búsqueda y de recuperación de la información encontrado sugiere dos etapas. El comportamiento durante la búsqueda se refiere a cómo los encuestados reconocen el problema, explotan las opciones de búsqueda y cómo distinguen la información para formular la expresión de búsqueda. El comportamiento durante la recuperación está relacionado con la navegación y la diferenciación para obtener una lista de resultados satisfactorios. En la lista de resultados se declara la solución del problema mediante el reconocimiento de la pertinencia, evaluación y selección de fuentes de información. El modelo se confronta a modelos ya aprobados. Se identificaron similitudes con los que tratan de comprender el comportamiento del usuario de manera más amplia, teniendo en cuenta su historia, valores, el contexto en el que se inserta y el conocimiento construido a partir de las experiencias anteriores. Por otra parte, la investigación tiene la intención de colaborar con los aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la comprensión y la construcción de una teoría fundamentada. Se concluye que es necesario proporcionar un mayor conocimiento, mejorar la comprensión y proporcionar un guía de acción, centrado en el usuario para la adopción de plataformas de descubrimiento en bibliotecas universitarias. Sugiere mejoras en su personalización y formación para dotar a los usuarios de las condiciones que les permitan sacar el máximo provecho posible del potencial de este tipo de herramienta.

因應行動政府的發展趨勢，美國、加拿大、印度、阿拉伯聯合大公國、我國政府都相繼提出發展行動政府網頁時的設計準則，然而各國政府所提出來之行動政府網頁設計規範相當混亂不統一。因此，本研究將各國政府單位所提供行動網頁設計準則統合整理成七大面向共46條的設計準則。另ㄧ方面，過去許多有關網站設計準則之相關研究，大多使用問卷了解使用者感受，皆無法判斷其準則對資訊尋求的真正影響。因此，本研究以臺北市政府觀光傳播局建置之「臺北旅遊網」為資訊尋求實驗網站，以程式記錄器記錄使用者在執行資訊尋求任務時，實際使用準則之行為歷程記錄為客觀資料，以及資訊尋求任務完成後所進行使用者認知行動政府網頁準則對於資訊尋求之重要性問卷調查為主觀資料，探討影響行動政府網頁資訊尋求速度與資訊尋求完成度之主要準則為何，以作為行動政府網頁設計之考量，以提升網站之資訊尋求效能。 本研究之研究結果顯示：(1)合計有七項使用者無法實際操作卻被認知重要之行動政府網頁設計準則；(2)合計有九項使用者可實際操作之行動政府網頁設計準則，可用操作次數預測資訊尋求達成度；(3)合計有十四項使用者可實際操作之行動政府網頁設計準則，可用操作次數預測資訊尋求速度；(4)合計有十項使用者可實際操作之行動政府網頁設計準則於資訊尋求時頻繁被使用，並且具有一定重要性；(5)合計有四項使用者可實際操作之行動政府網頁設計準則有助於提升同時提升使用者資訊尋求速度與達成度；(6)使用者資訊行為研究有必要以問卷及使用者行為記錄並行評估。 最後，本研究考量可實際操作之行動網頁設計準則之實際使用歷程操作狀況、資訊尋求時間、資訊尋求完成度及受測者認知準則重要度之行為特性，透過SOM分群方法歸納出七群影響資訊尋求速度與達成度之準則特性，並據此提出對於行動政府網頁設計者，使用準則時之參考依據，亦提出未來可供繼續探討之研究方向。 / To cope with the development trend of mobile government, the USA, Canada, India, United Arab Emirates, and domestic governments have proposed the design criteria for developing mobile government information webpage. Nevertheless, the design specifications of mobile government information webpage are chaotic and not uniform. For this reason, design criteria of mobile information webpage provided by various governments are integrated into 7 dimensions and 46 articles in this study. On the other hand, most past research on web site design criteria tried to understand user experience with questionnaire survey, which could not really judge the effect of the criteria on information seeking. As a result, “Travel Taipei”, established by Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government, is utilized as the experimental web site for information seeking in this study. Programmable recorders are used for recording user behavior course of the criteria for information seeking as the objective data; and, the questionnaire survey of users’ perceived importance of the criteria of mobile government information webpage to information seeking as the subjective data. It intends to discuss the major criteria for the information seeking speed and information seeking completion of mobile government information webpage for the design of mobile government information webpage to enhance the information seeking efficacy of web sites. The research results are concluded as following. (1) There are 7 design criteria of mobile government information webpage which are not actually operated by users, but are considered important. (2) There are 9 design criteria of effective mobile government by predicting information seeking completion with operation behavior. (3) There are total 14 design criteria of effective mobile government by predicting information seeking speed with operation behavior. (4) There are 10 design criteria of mobile government information webpage which are used by most users for information seeking and present certain importance. (5) There are 4 design criteria of mobile government information webpage which could simultaneously enhance information seeking time and completion. (6) It is necessary to study users’ information behavior with questionnaire survey and user behavior records for the evaluation. Finally, the behavior characteristics of information seeking completion, information seeking time, and participants’ perceived criteria importance in the actual use of course operation of mobile information webpage design criteria which could be actually operated are taken into account in this study. Seven criteria characteristics to influence information seeking speed and completion are organized through SOM clustering, and, based on which, reference for the use of criteria are provided for mobile government information webpage designers and future research directions.

INTERNET-BASED BEHAVIOR OF IT PROFESSIONALS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ONLINE ERGONOMIC EDUCATION TO PREVENT WORK-RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS By Priyadarshini Pattath, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017 Director: Dr. Robin Hurst, Assistant Professor of Adult Learning, Teaching and Learning, School of Education The purpose of this study was to explore the preferences of medium of ergonomic education and views about self-directed online training modules to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in computer professionals and understand their perspectives and experiences about online health information seeking using a self-directed learning framework. To accomplish this, a qualitative research design was used to analyze data from interviews and observation. An exploratory case study research design was employed to examine the experiences of fifteen information technology professionals. The findings revealed that the preference for the mode of delivery of ergonomic education depends on the individual attitude and on the perceived attributes of the particular mode of delivery. The findings highlighted the role of the Internet in making significant lifestyle and contextual modifications. Finally, the findings highlighted the barriers that were faced when seeking health information on the Internet. The findings of this study were limited by the nature of the research and sample size. Additional research is needed to support the findings. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This PhD thesis explored the experiences of dependent children and children care-givers facing challenges with their parent s cancer. The aim was to understand children s information experience including their perception of cancer and information culture; information needs, information seeking behaviour, barriers and enablers. The research used a six-stage process. This was informed by an extensive literature review and discussions with cancer specialists, psychologists and researchers from United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Malaysia. This study used a three-cycle, eight-step process of Participative Action Research (PAR) with participation from ten Malay breast cancer patients and their dependent children. Three bilingual (English and Bahasa Malaysia) instruments were developed; 1) An Inquiry to Participate Form to select participants who had dependent children, 2) Three opened-ended questions to obtain children s cancer experience and information needs where drawing was used to encourage children s responses and, 3) A 15-question questionnaire to understand children s experience and information preference. Cancer affected parenting abilities and challenging experiences identified the lack of culturally relevant information and the shift in caregiving responsibilities to dependent children. Children s understanding of cancer was influenced by their experiences and observations, many of which resulted in misconceptions about cancer, its causes, treatment and preventative measures. Children participant s reaction to a health situation triggered their information behaviour. The burden of caregiving and the consequences of a lack of information were greater than anticipated; children had many dimensions of concern and experienced many challenges. This advocated for a more assessable, attractive and sensitive information system. Data synthesis contributed to the development of a Children s Reactive Information Seeking Behaviour An Integrated Model that seeks to explain the relationship between children participants reaction to a health situation and the subsequent processes they undergo to resolve their state of information need.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver um modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação num ambiente ainda não explorado: os serviços de descoberta em rede. Para este fim, foi aplicada a metodologia da teoria fundamentada, o que permitiu conduzir, controlar e organizar a coleta de dados. Os dados formaram a base da teoria e a análise dos mesmos originou os conceitos que foram construídos. Os dados foram coletados durante a interação dos entrevistados com o serviço de descoberta em rede enquanto realizavam tarefas de busca e recuperação da informação. Os entrevistados foram selecionados aleatoriamente entre os usuários das bibliotecas da Universidad Complutense de Madrid. O modelo de comportamento de busca e recuperação da informação encontrado sugere duas etapas. O comportamento durante a busca relaciona-se com a maneira como os entrevistados reconhecem o problema, como exploram as opções de busca e como distinguem a informação para formular a expressão de busca. O comportamento de recuperação está relacionado à navegação e à diferenciação até a obtenção de uma lista de resultados considerados satisfatórios. A partir da lista de resultados é declarada a solução do problema por meio do reconhecimento da relevância, avaliação das fontes e seleção da informação. O referido modelo foi confrontado com modelos já referendados. Foram identificadas semelhanças com aqueles que pretendem entender o comportamento do usuário de forma mais ampla, levando em conta sua história, valores, contexto no qual está inserido e conhecimentos construídos a partir das experiências anteriores. Além disso, a pesquisa pretende colaborar com os aspectos metodológicos relacionados ao entendimento e a construção de uma teoria fundamentada. Conclui-se que é necessário proporcionar um maior conhecimento, aumentar a compreensão e fornecer um guia para a ação, com foco no usuário, para a adoção de serviços de descoberta de web em bibliotecas universitárias. Sugere aprimoramentos na sua customização e treinamentos para dotar os usuários de condições que lhes permitam extrair o máximo proveito possível das potencialidades deste tipo de ferramenta. / This research work aimed to develop a model of information seeking and retrieval behavior in an environment yet unexplored: the web discovery services. To this end, grounded theory methodologies were applied, which enabled the driving, tracking, and organizing of data collection. The data formed the basis of the theory and data analysis originated the concepts that were built. Data was collected during the interaction of interviewees with the web discovery service while performing tasks of information seeking and retrieval. The subjects were randomly selected from among the library users at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The information seeking and retrieval behavior model found suggests two steps. Behavior during searching is related to the way the respondents recognize the problem, exploit the searching options and distinguish information to formulate the expression. Behavior during information retrieval is related to navigation and differentiation to obtain a list of satisfactory results. From the list of results the solution of the problem is declared by recognizing the relevance, evaluation of sources and selection of information. The proposed model was confronted with models already established. Similarities to models that aim to understand user behavior more broadly, taking into account its history, values, context and knowledge constructed from previous experiences were identified. Besides, this research intends to collaborate with the methodological aspects related to the understanding and construction of a grounded theory. It concludes that is necessary to provide greater insight, enhance understanding and provide a guide to action, with a focus on the user, to the adoption of web discovery services in university libraries. It suggest customization and training to provide users with conditions that allow them to extract the maximum possible advantage of this type of tool. / Esta investigación tuvo como objetivo desarrollar un modelo de comportamiento para la búsqueda y recuperación de información en un entorno aún no explorado: las plataformas de descubrimiento. Para ello, se aplicó la metodología de la teoría fundamentada, lo que permitió dirigir, controlar y organizar la recopilación de datos. Los datos fueron la base de la teoría y del análisis se originaron los conceptos que fueron construidos. Los datos fueron recolectados durante la interacción de los participantes con la plataforma de descubrimiento mientras desempeñaban tareas de búsqueda y recuperación de información. Los encuestados fueron seleccionados al azar de entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. El modelo de comportamiento de búsqueda y de recuperación de la información encontrado sugiere dos etapas. El comportamiento durante la búsqueda se refiere a cómo los encuestados reconocen el problema, explotan las opciones de búsqueda y cómo distinguen la información para formular la expresión de búsqueda. El comportamiento durante la recuperación está relacionado con la navegación y la diferenciación para obtener una lista de resultados satisfactorios. En la lista de resultados se declara la solución del problema mediante el reconocimiento de la pertinencia, evaluación y selección de fuentes de información. El modelo se confronta a modelos ya aprobados. Se identificaron similitudes con los que tratan de comprender el comportamiento del usuario de manera más amplia, teniendo en cuenta su historia, valores, el contexto en el que se inserta y el conocimiento construido a partir de las experiencias anteriores. Por otra parte, la investigación tiene la intención de colaborar con los aspectos metodológicos relacionados con la comprensión y la construcción de una teoría fundamentada. Se concluye que es necesario proporcionar un mayor conocimiento, mejorar la comprensión y proporcionar un guía de acción, centrado en el usuario para la adopción de plataformas de descubrimiento en bibliotecas universitarias. Sugiere mejoras en su personalización y formación para dotar a los usuarios de las condiciones que les permitan sacar el máximo provecho posible del potencial de este tipo de herramienta.

Information plays a significant role in the success of investment strategies. Within a non-advisory context, individual investors elect to build and manage their investment portfolios to avoid the cost of hiring professional advisors. To cope with markets’ uncertainty, individual investors should acquire, understand, and use only relevant information, but that task can be affected by many factors, such as domain knowledge, cognitive and emotional biases, information overload, sources’ credibility, communication channels’ accuracy, and economic costs. Despite an increased interest in examining the financial performance of individual investors in Saudi Arabia, there has been no empirical research of the information behavior of individual investors, or the behavioral biases affecting the investment decision making process in the Saudi stock market (SSM). The purpose of this study was to examine this information behavior within a non-advisory contextualization of their investment decision-making process through the use of an online questionnaire instrument using close-ended questions. The significant intervening variables identified in this study influence the individual investors’ information behavior across many stages of the decision making process. While controlling for gender, education, and income, the optimal information behavior of individual investors in the SSM showed that the Experience factor had the greatest negative effect on the Information Seeking Behavior of individual investors. This was followed by Risk Tolerance, Financial Self-Efficacy, Emotional Biases, Education Level, Formal Information Access, Regret Aversion Bias, and Subjective Financial Knowledge. The Information Acquisition and Information Searching Behavior was influenced by the Acquisition Skepticism, Regret Aversion Bias, Formal Information Access, Overconfidence, and Information Seeking Behavior. Furthermore, the findings indicate that Formal Information Sources have a statistically significant positive effect on the Information Seeking Behavior, and on the Information Acquisition and Information Searching of individual investors in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the Socioeconomic Status (SES) of individual investors in Saudi Arabia was significantly influenced by the employment status, work experience, age, marital status, and income.