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