Hong (Iris) Xie and Colleen Cool
This paper reports on an investigation comparing searcher experiences with Web and non‐Web interfaces to online databases. The study was designed to address the following…
Abstract
This paper reports on an investigation comparing searcher experiences with Web and non‐Web interfaces to online databases. The study was designed to address the following questions: what is the nature of searcher preferences for Web versus non‐Web interfaces to online databases and, more specifically, what are the characteristics of Web and non‐Web based interfaces that help or hinder effective searching? Two samples of students enrolled in a graduate level Advanced Databases Searching course were used as participants in the research. In this class, the students used several Web and non‐Web based online databases. The data collected from self‐administered open‐ended questionnaires were employed in the analysis to address the research questions posed above. Results of the study indicate that some of the functions of Web interfaces outperform non‐Web interfaces; but at the same time they are not universally preferred. An important dynamic that surfaced in this study which helped to explain searcher preference for one type of interface over another was that of user control versus ease of use in the search process. This study concludes with an argument for greater attention to the tension between user control and ease of use in the design of effective and useful interactive online retrieval systems.
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This paper reports results of an exploratory study to investigate the ability of novice searchers to recognize stages in a user's information‐seeking process. This study follows…
Abstract
This paper reports results of an exploratory study to investigate the ability of novice searchers to recognize stages in a user's information‐seeking process. This study follows recent research by Kuhlthau et al. (1992) which examined the ability of experienced search intermediaries to recognize and assess the stage of a user's information‐seeking process. Two aspects were examined in the study: problem definition level and the work stage that the user was experiencing at the time of the online search interaction. The purpose of this present study is to examine if the ability to recognize and assess the information‐seeking stage of the user is limited to skilled and experienced intermediaries or is a more fundamental human cognitive activity. Results of the analysis suggest that novice searchers were able to judge the user's problem definition level more successfully than the user's work stage. Implications of this finding are discussed in terms of a general process model of information‐seeking behavior.
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the key journals publishing on the topic of information behaviour.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the key journals publishing on the topic of information behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The study focusses on four key textbooks in the field to compile a list of key journals that were being cited.
Findings
The primary aim of the project discussed in this paper is to identify the serials that may be considered the core journals reporting research on young people's information behaviour, with a view to helping the information professional stay up‐to‐date with important work in this field. While the study is in progress, it emerges that the research may also be of value to practitioner researchers looking to publish their own investigations in this area since it may be assumed that the journals in the upper echelons of the ranking lists are particularly receptive to submissions relating to information behaviour.
Practical implications
The paper should be of interest to practitioners involved in the support of information seeking in young people.
Originality/value
The paper offers a useful insight for researchers and others interest in information behaviour into the journals they should focus energy in consulting.
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A previous paper by the present author described the pros and cons of using the three largest cited reference enhanced multidisciplinary databases and discussed and illustrated in…
Abstract
Purpose
A previous paper by the present author described the pros and cons of using the three largest cited reference enhanced multidisciplinary databases and discussed and illustrated in general how the theoretically sound idea of the h‐index may become distorted depending on the software and the content of the database(s) used, and the searchers' skill and knowledge of the database features. The aim of this paper is to focus on Google Scholar (GS), from the perspective of calculating the h‐index for individuals and journals.
Design/methodology/approach
A desk‐based approach to data collection is used and critical commentary is added.
Findings
The paper shows that effective corroboration of the h‐index and its two component indicators can be done only on persons and journals with which a researcher is intimately familiar. Corroborative tests must be done in every database for important research.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the very time‐consuming process of corroborating data, tracing and counting valid citations and points out GS's unscholarly and irresponsible handling of data.
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Colleen Carraher Wolverton, Keith Credo and Curtis Matherne
Considering the growing prominence of millennials in the workforce, the current work explores the idea of cool employers as perceived, particularly by millennials.
Abstract
Purpose
Considering the growing prominence of millennials in the workforce, the current work explores the idea of cool employers as perceived, particularly by millennials.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the authors explore the polar concepts of cool and uncool potential employing organizations through a two-phase study that examined millennial's and nonmillennials’ perceptions of the components that constitute a cool or uncool organization to work.
Findings
The findings of the study indicate a difference between millennial and nonmillennial perceptions regarding the characteristics of a cool or uncool employing organization. Additionally, the authors discuss the dimensions of the cool and uncool organization concepts as perceived by millennials in the context of pertinent organizational theory.
Originality/value
Based upon the tenets of attraction–selection–attrition (ASA) theory and social identity theories, an organizational coolness concept is developed.