Download - Interview With an Information Seeker
Running head: INTERVIEW WITH AN INFORMATION SEEKER
Interview with an Information Seeker
Christina Magnifico
Emporia State University LI802XS
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Table of Contents
Contents
Table of Contents......................................................................................................... 2
Abstract....................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction................................................................................................................. 4
Process Analysis........................................................................................................... 4
Information Need............................................................................................. 5
Search Process.................................................................................................. 6
Learning Style and Process Evaluation.............................................................8
Conclusion……………………………………………….....………………….………8
References .....................................................................................................................10
Figures...........................................................................................................................11
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Abstract
This report examines the information seeking process of a Nurse Practitioner working at The
University of Kansas Medical Center who was in the process of obtaining her Ph.D. I predicted
that this particular individual would have an excellent grasp on the search process and would be
able to utilize databases beyond that of the average user. Throughout the information seeking
process, I observed the individual and asked questions regarding their level of comfort and
frustration. As the process continued, I became aware of how uncomfortable the individual was
with the use of online databases and that they were unfamiliar with more modern search
techniques. Further inquiry resulted in my finding out that this particular individual normally
enlisted the help of the medical librarians on campus for all of their literature searches. This,
compounded by the fact that they had been “out of school” for seventeen years, resulted in a
diminished search capability and increased frustration level at the technology they encountered.
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Interview with an Information Seeker
Introduction
The information seeker I chose to interview was Teresa, a Nurse Practitioner at The
University of Kansas Medical Center, who has taught several nursing courses over the last
several years. I chose Teresa because I was interested to see how a highly-educated, research
oriented healthcare professional who had been out of school for over a decade, conducted
research with the help of new technologies. As Teresa is also a teacher, I was curious how she
had been educating her students in regards to database research. To aid in the interview process,
I used neutral questioning outlined by Dervin (1986) and chose to conduct the interview in one
of the library study rooms.
At the time of the interview, Teresa was in the beginning stages of obtaining her Ph.D. and
was researching “c-reactive protein (CRP) in neonates.” Teresa had chosen this particular topic
because of her extensive work with the neonatal unit at The University of Kansas Medical
Center. According to Teresa, her most recent assignment required her to use several of the
databases available through the health sciences library at The University of Kansas Medical
Center.
Process Analysis
When Teresa first came to the library for the interview, she seemed slightly reticent to
discuss the entire search process. After talking to her about her topic, she began to feel more
comfortable opening up to me about how she does her research. As I was breaking down her
search process she told me, “I have been out of school for seventeen years and all of this stuff is
so new to me. I feel like everyone assumes I know how to do this and I feel overwhelmed with
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trying to even figure out how to search these databases” (personal communication, 2013).
Unfamiliarity with new technology was the first barrier that Teresa hit, but I assured her that
many people feel overwhelmed when they first begin their research and even explained
Kulthau’s Information Search Process to her in detail. Once she understood that she was not the
only researcher facing the frustrating problem of beginning a search, she started to explain her
process to me without hesitation.
Information Need
The particular search Teresa needed to conduct in this instance was, as Krikelas explains, a
need for “some specific piece of information” (Krikelas, 1983). Though she was able to choose
the topic of research, c-reactive protein (CRP) in neonates, “the assignment was to utilize the
specific set of databases the professor had established. Normally, when Teresa is presented with
a topic she immediately does a Google search online, this time she was explicitly told not to do
so which changed her search process. She explained to me that, “[Doing a Google search]
always helps me figure out what kinds of resources are available to me” (personal
communication, 2013). In this instance, the professor had given Teresa the precise order in
which she was to search the databases. Teresa described the professor’s request, “He wants me to
search The Cochrane Library first, CINAHL second and if I cannot find what I am looking for I
need to search PubMed and Web of Knowledge” (personal communication, 2013).
Later in the conversation, she told me that she often searches for information in order to
stay current in her chosen field of study, neonatal and pediatric nursing. Using the resources
available to her through The University of Kansas Medical Center, she often reads journal
articles from CINAHL and PubMed. I explained to her that searching for that literature was very
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similar to searching for the information she had been assigned, but she “let it slip” that a
librarian had set-up a search string for her in PubMed a year ago and that was how she found the
articles she normally read (personal communication, 2013). She also told me that, as a nurse
practitioner, she normally collaborates with other members of the medical community and rarely
does solitary research. I found this to be quite interesting and noted that, due to her training; she
may be more of an “interpersonal or social learner” now than before she began nursing school
(Gardner, 2002).
Search Process
After we had identified Teresa’s information need, I showed her how to access The
Cochrane Library through KUMC’s database list. Teresa’s first instinct was to type exactly what
she was searching for “CRP levels in infants.” When the first search only yielded twenty-two
results, she immediately became frustrated and asked me, “Shouldn’t there be more in this
database than that” (personal communication, 2013)? This was the second barrier Teresa
encountered in her search, formulating a search or creating a search string. I explained to her that
the words she was typing into the search bar mattered, as did the word order. She then tried
searching for “CRP newborn,” which only returned thirty-seven results. I could tell that she was
again frustrated by the lack of good results. I asked Teresa to look at what she was searching and
come up with a different search string that did not use abbreviations. After thinking for a second,
she decided to try “c-reactive protein, infant, neonate” which returned 214 results. This appeared
to rejuvenate her and she began to search through the results fervently. I asked her how she was
feeling now that she had more results and she told me that she “felt less frustrated and
overwhelmed” (personal communication, 2013). This was interesting to me, as Everett Roger’s
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theory of “information overload” (Case, 2007, p.103) seemed to point to the opposite. I had
assumed that the more results Teresa returned, the greater her frustration level would be when
she realized she had to sift through more articles.
When we had exhausted The Cochrane Library, Teresa moved on to CINAHL. Due to
CINAHL’s user interface design being less “flashy” than The Cochrane Library design, Teresa
asked me if it was “just as good as Cochrane.” I told her that there were positives and negatives
to both Cochrane and CINAHL. Since The Cochrane Library was more selective in searching
literature, she would be getting results closer to those she would find when searching for meta-
analyses in PubMed. CINAHL, however, would be more likely to return a variety of results for
her to cull through. With that in mind, Teresa tried the same search in CINAHL that she had
tried in The Cochrane Library, “c-reactive protein, infant, neonate.” CINAHL defaulted to
“SmartText Searching” and returned 2,155 results. The amount of results returned flustered
Teresa and she tried doing another search, “TX c-reactive protein AND TX infant OR TX
neonate.” This resulted in over 6,000 results and Teresa asked me what she had done wrong. I
could tell that she was about to, or had just, hit “information overload” (Case, 2007, p.103) and
directed her to the filters along the left hand side of the screen. I showed her how to adjust each
filter so that she could narrow down the results. After she changed the filters to find more
relevant information, she ended up finding thirty-two results (Figure 1) that matched what she
was searching for.
Figure 1: Filtered CINAHL Search Results
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Teresa appeared to be very pleased with the thirty-two results returned by CINAHL and
told me that she did not need to search PubMed or Wed of Knowledge. After the research
culminated, I asked her if I could sit down with her and rehash the search process she had just
gone through and have her explain her rationale for performing the search the way that she did.
Learning Style and Process Analysis
Throughout the entire process I observed that Teresa, needed feedback from me each
time she performed a search. She would constantly ask me questions and wanted to know if I
thought the search was performing was “OK.” She was very talkative, social and wanted to
discuss the results of each search. I could definitely tell that her experience as a teacher helped
her communicate with me and she never had a problem formulating questions to ask me in order
to get the feedback she wanted. Teresa also wanted control of the mouse while we performed the
search. I attributed this to the possibility of her also being a “kinesthetic learner” (Gardner,
2002) and wanting to utilize muscle memory to aid her in future searches.
Though Teresa’s process proved frustrating for her on multiple occasions, and she ran
into several barriers along the way, her tenacity helped her through the search process. Teresa is
not your standard information seeker; due to her level of education, years of research experience
and her time spend in front of a classroom filled with nursing students. Though she experienced
high levels of anxiety throughout the entire process, I could tell that Teresa was use to
maintaining a level-head.
Conclusion
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The University of Kansas Medical Center fosters a feeling of unity and encourages
collaboration throughout the community. This comes across in almost every medical
professional I meet on campus and Teresa was no different. Her strong interpersonal skills and
effective use of the communication tools she has honed over the years, really showed throughout
the entire search process. Even though she was not comfortable with the technology she was
required to use, Teresa knew what was expected of her and pushed herself outside of her comfort
zone in order to learn the necessary search techniques that would ultimately help her accomplish
her goals. Like many information seekers, Teresa set out to fulfill her information need and
gained valuable information seeking skills along the way; skills that she will hopefully pass
along to her students and fellow practitioners of medicine in order to improve their research,
which will ultimately benefit us all.
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References
Case, D.O. (2007). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking
needs, and behavior. 2nd ed. Wagon Lane, Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing
Limited.
Dervin, B. (1986). Neutral questioning: A neutral approach to the reference interview.
Reference Quarterly. 25(4).
Gardner, H. (2002). Interpersonal communication amongst multiple subjects: a study in
redundancy. Experimental Psychology.
Krikelas, J. (1983). Information-seeking behavior: patterns and concepts. Drexel
Library Quarterly, 19(2)., pp. 5-20.
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Figure Captions
Figure 1. Filtered CINAHL Search Results