Background and Aim: These days, Internet and online databases play a significant role in peoples’ information-seeking behavior, especially for postgraduate students. The kind of behavior seen on the part of those students who get help from online databases to write their theses might be completely different from those who search library sources to get the needed information. This study investigates the information-seeking behavior of postgraduate students of Kharazmi University who are writing their theses.
Method: This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Quantitative data were gathered using an information-seeking behavior questionnaire, which was then, analyzed using statistical analysis (T-Test and Friedman-Test). Content analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to analyze qualitative data. The participants were 100 students including 50 male and 50 female students.
Results: Results of analyzing the T-Test for male and female groups showed that there is not any significant difference of girls' and boys' information-seeking behavior. Results of analyzing the Friedman-Test however showed difference in average ratings of information-seeking behavior dimensions. With regard to results obtained from this analysis: pre-existing knowledge confirmation, relevancy judgments, bringing up new thoughts, time and effort for searching information contain maximum to minimum rates in a respective manner. Results of the qualitative data also showed that: most of the students’ problems lie in: seeking for and using the collaborative behavior and collaborative searching, difficulty in finding the related information, language limitations, diversity of goals, limitations the forms of the sources, unfamiliarity with the specific sources, lack of information literacy, and spending so much time to search.
Conclusion: Findings obtained in this study showed that postgraduate students do not have the skills and knowledge needed for using online data. This also indicates their deficiency and lack of information seeking and information literacy skills. So, recognizing the obstacles on the way of knowing and using these online databases and training students for purposeful searching seem to be essential.
Background and Aim: The aim of this article is to revise the methodological status of some of the most prominent studies and models in the field of Information Seeking Behavior in order to provide Iranian researchers with a brief comparative perception of the field.
Method: A literature review approach is applied to identify the research methods and historical origins of each study related to the realm of ISB.
Results: Research studies suggest that Iranian researchers - in their information seeking endeavors - have been unaware of the methodological tradition of the most prominent studies in this capacity, which are mainly based on the principle of methodological diversity and most of time have been imitating the methodological approach of other researchers in a stereotyped manner.
Conclusion: By deliberating the books written on the subject of study and research methodologies across a wide range of scientific disciplines, one can in a deductive manner, grasp a list of scientific methods in the form of independent researches to test the extent of their capabilities. The main Key to current problems is methodological diversity
Background and Aim: The present study was conducted to determine health, educational, religious, economic and cultural information needs of nomadic women in Kohkilouyeh city and identifying the way they use resources, their barriers and problems in accessing information, their information priorities.
Methods: This is applied survey conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire and oral interviews with 235 nomadic women. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS v.19.
Results: The findings showed that over %60 of samples had primary school degree. The main information need of nomadic women was health information needs (%36.2), and the main motivation for them for access and seeking information was to create a healthier life (%56.2). Among the resources of information, Radio had been used mostly in over %57.9 compared to other resources. The research findings showed that %53.2 of women nomads had a very low familiarity to public libraries as an information center. Respondents stated the most important obstacles to access to information resources impassable roads for commuting, lack of information and communications infrastructure, lack of familiarity with the sources of information, lack of easy access to health, training, cultural and service centers.
Conclusion: It seems that nomadic women are in serious needs with information resources, and especially hygenic and educational information, thus full attention must be paid to them.
Background and Aim: Nowadays, Internet is known as an attractive source of health information to manage individual's health. Given the importance of it, this study examined the role of Internet in health information seeking behavior among young people in Shiraz.
Method: This research was a survey which target population were youth Internet users in the city of Shiraz. A sample of 400 were randomly selected using, multi-stage cluster sampling. Data were collected by a questionnaire.
Results: Most of respondents used the Internet to search health information. Young women were more likely to seek online health information than young men. As well as level of education, the experience and self-efficacy to search the Internet, showed a significant correlation with searching OHI, too. The main goal of respondents to search OHI was to understand their health condition or disease, better understanding of health information provided by physicians and self-medication. The results also showed that respondents have positive attitude towards health information retrieved via the Internet.
Conclusion: There is a high demand of OHI among young people to manage personal health. Undoubtedly, foresight and planning to improve the quality of OHI, efforts to create a reliable health information database and public education to care about assessing the quality of OHI can herald the development of individual health and consequently the health of our community.
Background and Aim: Usually, researchers who have different levels of academic degrees, are different in terms of specialized knowledge. Also, academic degree may affect the information seeking behavior of researchers. Therefore, in this study, the difference of information seeking behavior of researchers with different academic degree for “conducting the research” and “updating scientific information” was investigated.
Methods: Survey method was used to conduct the research. In order to gather data, self made questionnaire was used. We have not sampled. In total, 140 researchers (70%), out of the 200, completed the questionnaires. Data were analyzed with descriptive and analytical statistics methods and were performed using IBM SPSS 22. In order to analysis the data, Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman's tests were used.
Results: Findings showed that the use of “journal articles” (high and very high more than 90%) was a top priority of “PhD and master students” and “PhDs”. In order to access scientific information, “PhD and master students" and “masters/professional doctors” mostly used “communication and consultation with Iranian experts and researchers” (high and very high with 75%) and “personal experiences” (high and very high with 65%). While minimal use of “communication and consultation with foreign experts and researchers” (low and never with 56%) and “participating in foreign congresses” (low and never with 69%) was used by “masters/professional doctors”.
Conclusion: Just in using the "journal articles" was significant difference in order to "update scientific information" and "research" (p<0.05). “PhD and master students”, compared to other levels of education, used “journal articles” more. While, in using the “communication and consultation with foreign experts and researchers”, “participating in foreign congresses”, and “personal experiences”, there was significant differences; So that, PhDs used them more than the others.
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