Spanning information behaviour across the stages of a learning task

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of personality (intellectual curiosity, conscientiousness and negative emotionality) and approach to studying (deep, strategic and surface) on students' learning-related information behaviour in inquiry tasks. Design/methodology/approach -Data were collected from 219 senior high school students with the use of three questionnaires. Findings -The findings showed that students' individual traits influenced different aspects of their learning-related information behaviour from information need to information use.Research limitations/implications -The results were based on survey data. Reliability issues with the scales are discussed. In future research qualitative data would enrich the understanding of the phenomena. Practical implications -The results are informative for teachers and librarians who guide students in inquiry tasks. Originality/value -The study spanned learning-related information behaviour across the whole inquiry process: from task construction through task performance to task completion. The findings showed that individual traits were particularly influential at the task completion stage, that is on information use. Nigel Ford (1979, 1986) was one of the first to acknowledge the importance of individual differences in learning-related information behaviour. Following Nigel's pioneering work, a large body of research has identified how various affective, motivational or cognitive differences play out as we interact with information (Bawden and Robinson, 2011;Ford, 2004). In conjunction with the general emphasis in information research, however, the earlier work has largely focused on information seeking. A holistic conception of learning-related information behaviour would include the whole process from information need to information use. Inspired by Nigel and building on his work, this study will explore the role of personality and approaches to studying on students' learning-related information behaviour in inquiry projects, spanning their inquiry from task construction to task completion. IntroductionIn educational psychology, a long research tradition has shown that personality traits influence academic achievement of students from primary school to university (Laidra et al., 2007;O'Connor and Paunonen, 2007;Poropat, 2009). The role of

Information Seeking Behaviour and Personality Traits in Secondary-school Students

“…There have been some indirect links made in the literature between achievement, personality traits and ISB. Heinström et al (2014) explained that research has linked achievement with personality traits such as conscientiousness (e.g., Poropat, 2009) while conscientiousness has been linked with learning-related information behaviour. Heinström et al argued, however, that there is a lack of understanding of the relationship between personality and learning-related information behaviour.…”

“…It involves cognitive processing and interpretation (Zhu et al, 2011) as well as behaviours such as acquiring knowledge, understanding and interpreting concepts and can even involve socialization (Marchionini, 2006). Learning-related information behaviour involves seeking information for purposes of learning and may be referred to in some contexts as inquiry learning (Heinström et al, 2014). As Zhu et al (2011) explained, IS "has always been interwoven with learning" (p. 2478).…”

“…Wilson's perspective on information-seeking behaviours (ISB) provides support for investigations of this phenomenon in relation to personality traits. Researchers have identified relationships between personality traits and ISB (see Kim et al, 2014) as well as personality traits and academic achievement (Heinström et al, 2014). Halder et al (2010) also found that such traits can influence ISB.…”

Comportamento Informacional: Um Estudo Com Alunos Do Curso De Administração

“…Estudos na área da Ciência da Informação tem focado principalmente na busca de informações como parte do comportamento informacional humano (STEINEROVÁ; SUSOL, 2005; HEINSTROM; SORMUNEN; KAUNISTO-LAINE, 2014). De acordo com Le Coadic (1996), estudos sobre usos e usuários da informação são importantes para que se compreenda as razões que levam as pessoas a buscarem informações, para que se conheça as suas necessidades informacionais, para que seja avaliada até que ponto os serviços oferecidos respondem a essas necessidades e para saber se está sendo feito um bom uso dos recursos oferecidos.…”

Immersive information behaviour: using the documents of the future

“…Given that immersive documents, by their very nature, lend themselves to individual participation and experience, an approach focusing on the individual is clearly worthwhile. It seems likely that behaviour with respect to immersive documents is likely to be related to personality and other individual differences, and this would be a fruitful line of enquiry (Vilar and Žumer 2008;Bawden and Robinson 2011;Heinström, Sormunen and Kaunisto--Laine, 2014) On the other hand, it is also likely that interesting social and group practices might manifest themselves in the context of use of immersive documents. This is particularly so in view of the enthusiasm with which participatory media have been taken up by groups with common interests, most notably fan fiction communities, with the groups acting as both users and creators of such materials (Robinson 2014).…”