How do students' information world maps change while developing their thesis topics? A longitudinal study using arts‐based elicitation interviews

Abstract

It is challenging for master's students, as novice researchers, to gather information throughout the process of thesis topic development. Information world mapping (IWM) provides a framework to depict a wide range of information activities and practices as well as the items, places, and relationships involved in a specific context from individuals' perspectives. The current study used IWM visual elicitation interviews to conduct a longitudinal study with 14 master's students at three iSchools. Since students typically develop their thesis topics throughout the first year in the master's program, each student was asked to draw an IWM during the interview after the first and second semesters ended. Situational analysis and qualitative content analysis were used to analyze the data. While students' IWMs remained similar in composition, their IWMs mainly changed in viewpoints of the world based on their work pace and relationships with various sources. Suggestions are provided based on the findings.

What's Next for Information World Mapping?: International and Multidisciplinary Uses of the Method

“…Since its inception for use in a study of health information practices, IWM has been adapted, translated, and used in studies on a variety of topics from refugee settlement (Martzoukou & Burnett, 2018;Shankar et al, 2016) to caregiving for people with dementia (Dalmer, 2017). IWM has been used with several populations, including iSchool students (Tsai et al, 2019), LGBTQIA community members (Kitzie et al, 2021), African immigrants (Mabi, 2020), and vaccine hesitant mothers (Greyson & Bettinger, 2017). IWM has spread from North America to Europe and Asia, been translated, and used not only in information science, but in other disciplines that may study information behaviours and practice, such as public health and ageing studies.…”