Lifeworld as “unit of analysis”

Date09 July 2018
Published date09 July 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JD-12-2017-0174
Pages880-893
AuthorTim Gorichanaz,Kiersten F. Latham,Elizabeth Wood
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet
Lifeworld as unit of analysis
Tim Gorichanaz
College of Computing and Informatics,
Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Kiersten F. Latham
School of Library and Information Science,
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA, and
Elizabeth Wood
School of Liberal Arts, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis,
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Abstract
Purpose The authors discuss the l ifeworld as a research co ncept for the field of info rmation
behaviour, which serve s to problematise the conc ept of unit of analysis. In so do ing, the authors
demonstrate how the li feworld can be adopted as a unit of analy sis in information behaviour res earch, that
is, how research can be bas ed in the lifeworld rather than mere ly looking at the lifeworld. The pa per aims to
discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach The authors first situate our discussion in the current of information
behaviour scholarship. The authors then introduce the concepts of lifeworld and unit of analysis and consider
how they intersect. Next, to show the importance of the lifeworld, the authors present two recent studies in
which the lifeworld emerged. Finally, the authors discuss how lifeworld-based research can be conducted
more conscientiously.
Findings Though many research approaches deal with lived experience in one way or another, they tend
not to fully grasp these experiences. As opposed to units of analysis such as individual, social group, person-
in-situation, etc., using lifeworld as a unit of analysis allows phenomena to be researched holistically and
without reductionism.
Research limitations/implications The authors limit the discussion to the concept of the lifeworld as
developed by Husserl, the concepts originator. The lifeworld has been discussed and extended by other
authors since, but this work is not considered here. The viewpoint is offered as a supplementary perspective,
meant to be enriching to our field of study, rather than divisive.
Originality/value This is the first time the concept of the lifeworld has been fully explicated in
information science. As the authors discuss, two recent information behaviour studies that discoveredthe
lifeworld through their analysis. Future studies that attend to the lifeworld from the start have the capacity to
build on this work and extend the horizons of information science.
Keywords Research methods,Information behaviour, Critique,Phenomenology, Practice theory, Lifeworld
Paper type Conceptual paper
Research in human information behaviour, in aspiring to account for everything that
concerns both humans and information, seems to strive toward holism like a bean sprout
to the sun. With roots in the system-centred positivism of the early twentieth century, the
research field of human information behaviour has grown in an effort to attend more
deeply to information-related phenomena. Accordingly, naturalistic and context-sensitive
methodologies have burgeoned, and researchers continue to seek means for studying
information-related processes as close to life as possible (Fidel, 2012). Proliferation
notwithstanding, most of the research in human information behaviour still employs
surveys and statistics rather than more naturalistic interview techniques or observations
(Case and Given, 2016). This suggests the need for abroader recognition and
understanding of context-sensitive methodologies and their continued development
within the field.
In this current, Talja and Nyce (2015) contend that practice theory offers the most holistic
framework for understanding information processes available, and that research in the
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 74 No. 4, 2018
pp. 880-893
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-12-2017-0174
Received 15 December 2017
Revised 5 March 2018
Accepted 6 March 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
880
JD
74,4

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