Assessment of PsycLIT Competence, Attitudes, and Instructional Methods

Abstract

This study measured student competence in using PsycLIT, related attitudes toward PsycLlT to level of skill, and examined student preferences for various methods of PsycLlT instruction. The data analyad were from the PsycLIT subtest of The Library Skills Test for Psychology Majors, which was administered to 145 senior psychology majors. Of the students who took the test, 88.8% reported that they had used PsycLIT, and 83% made competent or exceptionally competent scores. When asked to rate the usefulness of six different methods of PsycLIT instruction, students rated a workshop taught by a librarian as the most useful. These data also show a clear relation between better PsycLIT performance and attitudes of lower anxiety and greater confidence about using PsycLIT. Psychologists (e.g., Mathews, 1978) are interested in teaching bibliographic and library research strategies to their undergraduates. A number of researchers have argued that this teaching is done best by psychology faculty and librarians working together to develop cooperative strategies (Baxter, 1986; MacGregor & Mclrmis, 1977;Parr, 1978). With the widespread availability of computers, interest has shifted from teaching manual searching strategies to teaching electronic information retrieval strategies (Feinberg, Drews, & Eynman, 1981;Lewis, 1986;Parr, 1979;Piotrowski & Perdue, 1986).PsycLIT is a comprehensive software package, and students require instruction in order to )take full advantage of its capabilities. Librarians have employed a number of instructional strategies to teach students how to use PsycLIT (Lynn & ELacsanyi, 1989), but there is liltitle empirical evidence about which strategies are most effective.Student attitudes toward PsycLIT', such as anxiety and confidence, may also affect their ability to search the data base effectively. Many studies have been conducted on attitudes toward computers. Positive attitudes, such as confidence and liking of computers, contribute to better cornputer performance (Munger & Loyd, 1989). With regard to compact disk data bases, Steffey and Mever (1989) found library patrons liked CD-ROM worltstations, and patrons with prior experience with computers felt the data bases were easy to use. In a study by Schultz and Salomon (1990), college students were "overwhelmingly pleased with CD-ROM" (p. 56). The students thought the CD-ROMs were easy to use, preferred them to print indexes, and felt satisfied with their search results. Even students with little computer experience expressed preference for CD-ROM over print indexes, such as Psychological Abstracts. Despite patron reports that PsycLIT was easy to use, Lynn and 'Bacsan~i (1989) reported that more than 50% of the users they surveyed obtained assistance from library staff and only 16% thought formal instruction was unnecessary. The library staff at James Madison University have also observed that untrained students who use PsycLIT act confused and frustrated and frequently ask for assistance.Several studies examined the importance of providing instru...

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