Information Seeking Behaviour Factors- A Measurement Model.pdf

3
rd
International Conference on Research and Innovation in Information Systems – 2013 (ICRIIS’13)
Information Seeking Behaviour Factors: A Measurement Model
Maslinda Mohd Nadzir
School of Computing,
College of Arts and Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia,
Kedah, Malaysia.
[email protected]
Juhana Salim
Faculty of Information Science and Technology,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Selangor, Malaysia.
[email protected]
Abstract — Graduate students are active information seekers.
Their experiences with information seeking range from novices
to experts. Graduate students’ understanding of the needed
information and the different types of information sources
accessible are essential for them to search for the required
information effectively and efficiently. Previous studies
concluded that insufficient knowledge about information
seeking behaviour is one of the factors that contributed to
failure in searching for useful information. This paper discuss
about a study conducted to evaluate a measurement model of
information seeking behaviour factors, which is a part of the
methods used to develop Research Information Seeking
Behaviour Model. The data was collected through survey
method by using web-based questionnaire. The measurement
model was validated using Structural Equation Modeling with
AMOS 16.0. Eight factors were extracted from exploratory
factor analysis and labeled as preliminary research needs, data
research needs, printed information sources, electronic
information sources, media information sources, library
information search, electronic information search and
information use. Results of the assessment of model fit showed
that all the relevant measurements fit a value that exceeds the
value recommended by previous researchers. In conclusion,
the measurement model provides a reasonably good fit and
suitable for the development of Research Information Seeking
Behaviour Model.
Keywords- information seeking behaviour, information
retrieval, graduate student, research, model
I. INTRODUCTION
The growth of the Internet and World Wide Web (Web)
enable information to be obtained from around the world at
any time. Despite such advancement, research related to
information retrieval showed that graduate students faced
difficulties in locating and retrieving the required
information effectively in order to support their research.
This is because, they are unaware of the facilities and various
sources of information available that can be utilized to find
the required information.
Academic libraries are the first place that graduate
students should visit when seeking for information. They
contain a variety of information sources such as books,
journals, theses, working papers, conference articles and
research reports that can be used to support research. In
addition to academic libraries, more information is available
electronically on the Web. Although the Web is one of the
options for getting the required information, graduate
students often experience some difficulties when searching