4-1 Introduction
It is proposed that information seeking, problem solving, and learning in a workplace are
involved in the knowledge seeking process. These three aspects will thus be reviewed in this
chapter. Many studies have been conducted to explore information seeking behaviours,
especially since 1980s. In this chapter, some major information seeking models will be
reviewed. After that, the chapter will provide an overview of problem solving research,
followed by a discussion of problem solving models that will help us understand the process
of how a problem solver find the resolution to the problem. How people gain knowledge in the
workplace will be explored in this chapter as well. This includes a review of the major
learning theories in general, and then research concerning learning in a workplace, namely
informal learning, organizational learning, experiential learning, action learning, and situated
learning. At the end, this chapter summarizes the literature reviewed in this chapter to bring
86
learning, problem solving, and information seeking. This leads to a preliminary framework for
knowledge seeking in this research. In addition, the a priori codes for the knowledge seeking
process will be identified for later exploration in this thesis.
4-2 An overview of information seeking behaviour research
The research into information seeking behaviour has existed for many years. According to
Wilson (2000, p49), information seeking behaviour is “the purposive seeking for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal”. The earliest research in this area can be traced back to the 1940s which mainly focused on the users of libraries. For example, The
Library Survey (McDiarmid, 1940, in Wilson, 2000) described many studies concerning
library use. Since then, attention has been paid to the use of information sources and systems,
document use, exploring how information sources can be more useful to us and how we can
make better use of these sources. Wilson (2000) stated that much of the earlier information
behaviour research was mainly about library use and focused on scientists and their use of
information. However, since the 1980s, most researchers have turned their focus on the user by a „person-centred approach‟ and developed information seeking models (Kuhlthau, 1993; Ellis, 1989; Wilson, 1984; Dervin, 1983). And recently, a theoretical information behaviour
framework based on cognitive science, social science, complexity theory (Mosindi & Sice,
2011). These models try to display the whole process of information seeking.
There is much research that focuses on different aspects of information seeking: information
seeking behaviour and information system design (Johnstone et al, 2004; Fidel & Pejtersen,
87
Gross, 2001); information seeking behaviour in image retrieval (Conniss et al, 2000);
information seeking behaviour on internet or other electronic environment (Enochsson, 2005;
Siatri, 1998; Marchionini, 1995); information seeking and learning (Borgatti & Cross, 2003);
culture and information seeking (Komlodi & Carlin, 2004). Furthermore, many researchers
have explored factors that influence human information seeking behaviour, such as personality
(Sonnenwald & Iivonen, 1999; Heinstrom, 2000; 2003), cognitive style (Rouse, 1984; Ford et
al, 2002; Fabritius, 1998), image and worldview (Wilson, 1984), social capital (Johnson,
2004), gender (Enochsson, 2005), and contexts and contests (Gaslikova, 1999; Choo, 2007).
4-3 Models of information seeking behaviours
According to Spink and Cole (2004), human information behaviour relates to the study of
human behaviours in relation to information seeking, foraging, retrieving, organizing and use.
Wilson (1999) argues that models of information behaviour are kinds of statement, seek to
describe, in the form of diagrams, an information activity, the causes and consequences of that
activity, or the relationships among stages in information seeking behaviour. This section will review some major models, namely Wilson‟s models of information behaviour (Wilson, 1981; 1999), Ellis‟s behaviour framework (1989), Kuhlthau‟s stage process model (1993), and Foster‟s non-linear model (Foster, 2005)
4-3-1 Wilson’s information seeking behaviour model
In order to outline the various areas covered by information behaviour, Wilson (1981) devised
88
Wilson suggested that when an „information need‟ was perceived or identified by an
information user, he tended to start his information seeking behaviour to satisfy this need. He
would make demands upon formal of informal information sources or services. The formal
sources refer to information systems such as libraries, on-line services and so on. The informal
sources refer to seeking information from other people rather than the formal systems in
organizations. Both kinds of information sources or services might have two different results:
success or failure to find useful information. If successful, the information would be used by
the user to satisfy his information need, which had been identified before. If the information
gained was not able to satisfy, or fully satisfy, the user‟s need, then the user had to reiterate this seeking process.
89
However, this kind of model just provides us with a map of this area. As criticized by Wilson
himself (1999), this model does not analyse the whole information seeking process in detail,
nor does it list out the causative or impeditive factors in such a seeking behaviour. In view of
this, Wilson (1999) devised another information-seeking model (Figure 4-2). According to
Wilson (1999), this evolved model is based on two propositions. Firstly, information need is
not a primary need but a secondary need arising from another more basic kind of need. Based
on a psychological perspective, these basic needs could be physiological, cognitive, or
affective, while the context of these needs might be personal (the person him- or herself),
social (the demands from the person‟s role in work or life), or environmental (political, economic, technological, etc.). Secondly, there are different kinds of barriers that appear for
the information enquirer during the process of discovering information to satisfy a need. Again,
these barriers could be personal, social (or role-related), or environmental.
90
This model is intended to clearly describe how information needs arise and what may prevent
the actual search for information, and many context factors, such as a person‟s environment,
social roles and individual characteristics.
Figure 4-3: Wilson‟s model of information behaviour (1999)
By 1996, Wilson had expanded his model into a new version (Figure 4-3), based on research
from different fields including information science, psychology, innovation, and decision
making. The „barriers‟ in the previous model have been replaced by „intervening variables‟, which suggest that the impact of these variables may not only be preventive as a barrier, but
also be supportive as enablers. At the same time, the information seeking behaviour has been
91
search, and ongoing search. Furthermore, „information processing and use‟ becomes a
necessary part in the model to form a feedback loop, which supports the identification of
information needs.
All in all, this new model remains one of macro-behaviour, which identifies possible
intervening variables and the possible forms of action the seeker may take. This expansion
made it a very popular source of hypotheses for further research.
4-3-2 Ellis’ information seeking model
Ellis (1989) adopted a behavioural approach to elaborate different behaviours involved in
information seeking. Based on empirical research, the information seeking patterns of
academic social scientists were identified. Rather than listing out stages in the process as most
models did, Ellis concluded that there were six characteristics of information seeking patterns:
starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. According to him,
these characteristics constitute the principal generic features of the patterns and together
provide a behavioural model for information retrieval system design. These features of information seeking behaviour were then tested by Ellis‟s subsequent studies. In 1993, based on grounded theory, interviews were conducted by Ellis, Cox, and Hall (1993) to analyse the
above key features among a group of research physicists and research chemists. The results in
this research were compared with those of the social scientists in Ellis (1989). However, no
fundamental differences were identified in information seeking behaviour between the two
groups of scientists; instead, there was a little modification to the previous research: apart
92
In 1997, further research was conducted by Ellis and Haugan (1997) to explore the role of
information and information seeking in an international oil and gas company. The information
seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists were analysed and explored. Eight
categories were identified on this occasion to describe the information seeking patterns:
surveying, chaining, monitoring, browsing, distinguishing, filtering, extracting, and ending.
According to Ellis and Haugan (1997), surveying is usually initiated to generate ideas for new
projects in the beginning of a project‟s life cycle. The scientists or engineers tend to make use
of surveying to approach the new or unfamiliar subject field for a pre-study prior to the project
plan. Normally, researchers carry out surveying through personal contacts or computerised
literatures. Colleagues in their own unit are usually seen as the starting point. They tend to ask
the people whom they think are knowledgeable in a particular area to get some guidelines and
information about it.
Chaining refers to the connection or chain between the different sources. It is performed
mainly by following references in some sources, obtained through surveying normally, to
other references from other sources. According to Ellis and Haugan (1997), the decision to
stop following a chain of references is based on the time available, or in the case of the
chaining of personal contacts, it mainly depends on the knowledge the people possess, and
their willingness to give information.
Monitoring refers to activities involved in maintaining awareness of developments and
technologies in a field for keeping up-to date. Both formal and informal channels are
employed here (Ellis & Haugan, 1997). The formal channel refers to the use of scientific
93
Browsing is another important part of the information seeking process. It resides not only in
monitoring activities, but also in surveying activities by means of the scanning of journals and
browsing of references and abstracts of printouts from retrospective literature searches (Ellis
& Haugan, 1997). Browsing is used usually to scan a wide range of sources, both primary and
secondary, to find something of particular interest.
Filtering is used in the information seeking process to make the information searched as
relevant and precise as possible. It is normally fulfilled by the use of certain criteria or
mechanisms when searching for information. However, according to Ellis and Haugan (1997),
there is an apparent conflict in filtering activities, namely reducing the time for searching
versus the risk of failing to obtain important information. A wider range of searching for
information normally demands more time spent in the information seeking.
Extracting is characterised by working through sources to locate material of interest (Ellis &
Haugan, 1997). It is used when the scientists, for example, are giving different kinds of
presentation, such as a research report, review of the literature, a project summary, or an
article for publication.
Ending activities refer to those involved in actually finishing the information seeking process.
It normally happens at the end of a project by carrying out a small scale search targeted
towards some unsolved questions. It is used to check if something has appeared in the last
94
Ellis (1989) stated that the detailed interrelation or interaction of these features mainly
depends on the particular circumstances of the person at a particular time. Thus, he did not
draw a diagrammatic model to depict the interrelations of these features. Wilson (1999),
however, evaluated the meaning of these features and suggested a diagrammatic presentation
of them (see figure 4-4). As proposed by Wilson (1999), „starting‟ obviously initiates a
process and „ending‟ must end it. So they must be the first and last step respectively.
Furthermore, „browsing‟, „chaining‟, or „monitoring‟ are search procedures; „differentiating‟ is a filtering process; „extracting‟ must come after the search procedures and filtering process. As shown in figure 4-4, the model becomes a stage process version of Ellis‟s behavioural
framework.
95
4-3-3 Kuhlthau’s six stages of information search process
Information system design is mainly driven by a bibliographic paradigm, which emphasises
collecting and classifying information for their retrieval. However, this traditional pattern of
information provision is different from information users‟ natural process of information seeking. To bridge this gap, Kuhlthau (1991) attempted to explore the information search
process from the user‟s perspective and proposed a new information search process model.
According to Kuhlthau (1991), the information search process is a constructive activity to find meaning from information. This process aims to extend a users‟ knowledge on a particular problem or topic. From a cognitive perspective, people actively construct their view by means
of assimilating new information with what they know before. Based on a series of five studies
conducted in field situations with actual library users, Kuhlthau (1991) developed a six-stage
model of the information search process, including initiation, selection, exploration,
formulation, collection, and presentation. Furthermore, three realms were identified in each
stage of the process: the affective (feelings), the cognitive (thoughts), and the physical
(actions). (See Table 4-1).
At the „initiation‟ stage, a person tends to be aware of the lack of knowledge and his task is recognizing a need for information. His thoughts mainly focus on contemplating the problem,
or comprehending the task. Based on his existing knowledge or experiences, his actions will
96
Table 4-1: Six-stage model of information search process (Kuhlthau, 1991)
The „Selection‟ stage involves the identification & selection of the general topic to be investigated. The thoughts at this stage emphasise perspective topics compared to the
assignment requirements, personal interest, and information available. The actions in this stage
are mainly about conferring with others, or skimming and scanning for alternative topics.
„Exploration‟ involves exploring information in order to extend personal understanding. The major feelings at this stage are confusion, uncertainty, while the thoughts mainly centre on
how to be sufficiently informed about the topic to form a focus. The actions at this stage
include reading to locate information about and understand topics, relating new information
97
At the „Formulation‟ stage, a focused perspective of the topic will be formed from the ideas in the information. So the thoughts in this stage include identifying and selecting ideas from the
new information. The topic will thus become clearer and more personalized. As a result,
feelings of confidence will be increased, with a sense of clarity at this stage.
When the user is able to acquire information effectively and efficiently from the information
system, „Collection‟ will then occur in order to gather relevant information. The thoughts will concentrate on how to define, extend, and support the already personalized topic. The user
who has got a clearer sense of direction will be able to specify the need for relevant and
focused information at this stage. This will facilitate a comprehensive search of information
from available resources.
In „Presentation‟, the search will be completed; the findings will be presented or be used. The users will then think of culminating the search based on their synthesis of the topic. If the
information search has gone well, feelings will be a sense of satisfaction. If it has not gone
well, the feelings will be a sense of disappointment.
As we can see, this six-stage model illustrates a user‟s experiences during the information
search process, from the cause of the search, feelings, thoughts, actions during each stage, to
the completion of the search. Along with the different information searching behaviour or
activities in each stage, this model also shows us an implicit process of the gradual refinement
98 4-3-4 Foster’s non-linear model
According to Foster (2005), previous information seeking models, such as Ellis and Wilson‟s models, are normally linear processes which consist of stages and iterative activities. By
exploring the information seeking behaviour among some inter-disciplinary researchers, he
developed a new non-linear model of information seeking behaviour, which illustrates a
dynamic and inter-relationships of behaviours, activities, and context. As stated by Foster
(2005), this new model suggests a potential revision of some of the core ideas of information
science by providing an alternative explanatory framework.
Foster‟s study was based on a sample of academic and postgraduate researchers in universities whose research topic was inter-disciplinary. According to him, interdisciplinarity includes
individual research topics in which the primary knowledge domain is clearly focused on, or
related to one or more, other knowledge domains. After analysis of his in-depth interview data,
emergent activities of information seeking were grouped into three categories named core
processes: Opening, Orientation, and Consolidation.
Opening refers to the process of moving from a state of orientation to actually seeking,
exploring and revealing information. Opening implies how they open up their topics through
information seeking activities. It represents a collection of non-linear activities, namely
breadth exploration, eclecticism, networking, keyword searching, browsing, monitoring,
chaining, serendipity. Every single activity might interact with or inform other Opening
99
Orientation processes are a diverse range of activities focusing on identification and the
direction in which to look. These activities include reviewing, picture building, identifying
keywords, source identification & selection, and problem definition. During Orientation
processes, the key themes, keywords, latest opinions and recourses, and picture building can
be identified. According to Foster (2005), Orientation performs the basic problem solving
aspects identified in previous research.
The main goal of the Consolidation process is to judge and integrate the work in progress and
to decide if further information seeking is required. The activities in this process include
refining, sifting, incorporation, verifying, finishing, and knowing enough. As a main concept
in this process, knowing enough iteratively questions whether sufficient information has been
acquired for the need. According to Foster (2005), Consolidation loops and intertwines with
the Orientation and Opening processes in the context of inter-disciplinary research.
Apart from these three core processes, Foster (2005) proposed that information behaviour is
not isolated from the internal and external context in which researchers work. He outlined
many major external factors such as social and organizational, time, the project, and access to
sources. On the other hand, the internal context mainly refers to the experience and knowledge
held by the researchers, which includes feelings, thoughts, coherence, knowledge and
understanding.
According to Foster (2005), the cognitive approach is the most intimate factor in information