Qualitative Analysis of Visual Data in Information Behavior Research

Abstract

Purpose/Thesis: The paper contains a methodological reflection on qualitative analysis of visual empirical data as a research procedure in the contemporary human information behavior research. The possibility of implementing this approach has been tested on a case study of personalized information spaces in everyday life of undergraduate information management students in the academic year 2018/2019.Approach/Methods: The reported research employs the realist epistemological stance, qualitative and descriptive approaches, and four methods/techniques: critical literature review, case study, drawing as a mental mapping tool, and thematic analysis. Results and conclusions: Visual data analysis is cognitively fruitful; it enables grasping the multidimensional “information reality” as perceived by the users (the humanistic coefficient). However, it is time-consuming, it requires meticulousness and self-reflection on the part of the researcher; it must also leave a clear audit trail to assure credibility and intersubjective verifiability of investigations.Originality/Value: The article is concerned with innovative research procedures, rarely discussed in Polish information science literature. Combining visual approach with individual information spaces, it corresponds to the latest methodological and topical trends in the field of information behavior. It also links theoretical reflection with the research practice.

Affective Factors in Human Information Behavior: A Conceptual Analysis of Interdisciplinary Research on Information Behavior

“…While foreign research on information science has been making use of the affect theory since the 1990s (Hartel, 2019), it remains rare in Poland. Nevertheless, a growing interest in the place of affect in information behavior is evident in Polish scholarship, as it has been studied by Sobielga (1997;, Kisilowska and Mierzecka (2019), Krakowska (2017), Cisek and Krakowska (2019). Thus, an additional intention of this publication is to update the knowledge on research on the place of affective phenomena in information behavior and to draw attention to the potential of interdisciplinary research in information science.…”

“…Efforts were also made by scholars to implement the achievements of psychology and cognitive science into models of information behavior. The patterns of affective information activities are included in the information behavior models of Kulthau, Wilson, and Dervin (Wilson, 2013); affective components are also an important module of concepts of Chatman, Fisher or Sonnevald (Burnett et al, 2008;Cisek & Krakowska, 2019;Krakowska, 2017).…”

Creativity and Neurodiversity: Towards an Inclusive Creativity Measure for Autism and ADHD

“…Further, qualitative analysis gives voice to participants and allows for flexibility, making it a suitable approach to explore different populations (Cisek & Krakowska, 2019). Input from interviews also contributes towards improving future creativity measures for neurodivergent individuals.…”

Technologies, knowledge and truth: the three dimensions of information literacy of university students in Slovakia

“…Based on previous studies which applied visual techniques for study of information behaviour or information literacy (e.g. Sonnenwald et al, 2001;Hartel, 2014;Hartel and Savolainen, 2016;Cisek and Krakowska, 2019) we identified and coded the following types of the students' images (as representations of their understanding of information literacy): a processual (sequential) type, an evolutionary (knowledge) type and an interactive type (cyclic, star scheme). These types were composed of the following components described in the pictures: human mind, tree of knowledge, computer, interactions of people, information resources and infrastructure (e.g.…”