The purpose of the present study was to examine the information needs and
information seeking behaviour of coaches in the sports of swimming and track and
field who had completed level 2 accreditation of the Australian Coaching Council.
The study aimed to identify information needs, the sources from which
information is currently obtained and to gauge the level of satisfaction with current
information provision in terms of the quantity, content and timeliness of
information received. The study also aimed to examine the influence of the
independent variables of sport, geographic location and education level on
information needs and information seeking behaviour.
In line with current theoretical thinking in the examination of information needs
described in the literature, the researcher took a 'user-centred' approach in the
identification of information needs utilising the structured group discussion
process, Nominal Group Technique (NGT) as the first stage of the research. This
process established the broad parameters of coaches' information needs and
provided the basis for the design of a subsequent survey which was distributed to
all swimming and track and field coaches who had completed level 2 accrediation.
The survey resulted in a response rate of 69 percent from a total population of
568.
The study revealed that coaches have a wide range of information needs many of
which would not generally be associated with libraries, that there are few
differences between coaches from different sports, those of differing education
levels and between those of different geographic locations, although access to
information is made more difficult through geographic isolation. The study
revealed that coaches use multiple sources to obtain information and that libraries
and formal sport information providers are not key sources for most types of
information. Low levels of satisfaction were found to exist with the quantity and
content of information with the highest level of dissatisfaction being expressed
with the timeliness of information received.
The study concludes by identifying issues, recommending possible actions in
relation to these issues and identifies areas for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218839 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Clarke, Nerida, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Information, Language & Culture |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Nerida Clarke |
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