Information seeking and mediated searching: Part 2. Uncertainty and its correlates

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the concept of uncertainty in information seeking, within a model of the problem-solving process proposed by Wilson (1999a) and variables derived from other models and from the work of Ellis and Kuhlthau. The research has involved longitudinal data collection in the United States and United Kingdom employing three interview schedules (incorporating self-completed questionnaires) used for pre-and postsearch interviews: and postsearch interviews with the information seeker and the search intermediary. In addition, the Sheffield team employed a fourth set of instruments in a follow-up interview some 2 months after the search. Related search episodes, with a professional search intermediary using the Dialog Information Service and other sources were audiotaped, and search transaction logs were recorded. The mediated search clients were faculty and research students engaged in either personal or externally supported research projects. The article concludes that the problem solving model is recognized by such researchers as describing their activities and that the uncertainty concept, operationalized as here, serves as a useful variable in understanding information-seeking behavior. It also concludes that Ellis's concept of "search characteristics" and Kuhlthau's information-seeking stages are independent of the problem stage, and that a set of affective variables, based on those of Kuhlthau, appear to signify a generalized positive or negative affective orientation towards the course of the information problem solution.

Cognitive economy and satisficing in information seeking: A longitudinal study of undergraduate information behavior

“…Studies from the 1980s defined novices as those who had not undertaken independent online searching, or had undertaken a beginners' course in information seeking, (Howard, 1982;Harter, 1984) and defined expertise in terms of the number of searches carried out over a certain period, for example a month, (Howard, 1982) or for a certain time prior to the study (Harter, 1984). Later studies have followed a student group from relative inexperience to the attainment of far greater expertise (Whitmire, 2002;Vakkari, 2001;Wilson et al 2002;Kuhlthau, 2004;Spink et al, 2002a and b), and thus the experts and novices are, in effect, the same group of participants at different stages of development. Librarians have also been used as an expert group from whom lessons may be learnt for the design of digital library systems (Fields et al, 2004).…”

Conceptualizing Information Need: A Phenomenological Study

“…They found that there are some levels of uncertainties that occur on the part of users' engagement in information seeking process. Kuhlthau (1993) argued that these uncertainties are particularly persistent characteristics of an information seeker's experience, underlying all aspects of information seeking and searching (Wilson, Ford, Ellis, Foster & Spink, 2002). Most studies failed to recognize how information needs of users are determined.…”

Measuring online information seeking context, Part 1: Background and method

“…Further evidence for the stage model of information seeking is provided by Wilson et al (2002) who found differences in the relationship between level of uncertainty and the problem stage in which the user was engaged, and to the knowledge the user had of the subject domain under exploration. This research was novel in that users were provided with a list of problem-solving stages, definitions of each stage, and were asked to self-assess their current stage.…”