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Information seeking, use, and decision making

Yes / In this paper we explored three areas: decision making and information seeking, the relationship between information seeking and uncertainty, and the role of expertise in influencing information use. This was undertaken in the context of a qualitative study into decision making in the initial stages of emergency response to major incidents. The research took an interpretive approach in which activity theory is used as an analytical framework. The research provides further evidence that the context of the activity and individual differences influence the choice of decision mode and associated information behavior. We also established that information is often not used to resolve uncertainty in decision making and indeed information is often sought and used after the decision is made to justify the decision. Finally, we point to the significance of both expertise and confidence in understanding information behavior. The contribution of the research to existing theoretical frameworks is discussed and a modified version of Wilson's problem-solving model is proposed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/8561
Date21 May 2014
CreatorsMishra, Jyoti L., Allen, D.K., Pearman, A.D.
Source SetsBradford Scholars
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeArticle, final draft paper
Rights© 2015 Wiley. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mishra JL, Allen D and Pearman A (2015) Information seeking, use, and decision making. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 66(4): 662-673, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asi.23204. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

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