The relationship between students’ subject preferences and their information behaviour
| Date | 09 July 2018 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-07-2017-0097 |
| Published date | 09 July 2018 |
| Pages | 692-721 |
| Author | Andrew D. Madden,Sheila Webber,Nigel Ford,Mary Crowder |
| Subject Matter | Library & 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 |
The relationship between
students’subject preferences and
their information behaviour
Andrew D. Madden
Department of Information Management, Lingnan College,
Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Sheila Webber and Nigel Ford
Information School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, and
Mary Crowder
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between preferred choice of school
subject and student information behaviour (IB).
Design/methodology/approach –Mixed methods were employed. In all, 152 students, teachers and
librarians participated in interviews or focus groups. In total, 1,375 students, key stage 3 (11-14 years)
to postgraduate, responded to a questionnaire. The research population was drawn from eight schools, two
further education colleges and three universities. Insights from the literature review and the qualitative
research phase led to a hypothesis which was investigated using the questionnaire: that students studying
hard subjects are less likely to engage in deep IB than students studying soft subjects.
Findings –Results support the hypothesis that preferences for subjects at school affect choice of university
degree. The hypothesis that a preference for hard or soft subjects affects IB is supported by results of an
analysis in which like or dislike of maths/ICT is correlated with responses to the survey. Interviewees’
comments led to the proposal that academic subjects can be classified according to whether a subject helps
students to acquire a “tool of the Mind”or to apply such a tool. A model suggesting how IB may differ
depending on whether intellectual tools are being acquired or applied is proposed.
Practical implications –The “inner logic”of certain subjects and their pedagogies appears closely linked
to IB. This should be considered when developing teaching programmes.
Originality/value –The findings offer a new perspective on subject classification and its association with
IB, and a new model of the association between IB and tool acquisition or application is proposed,
incorporating the perspectives of both teacher and student.
Keywords Students, Schools, Universities, Critical thinking, Information research, Information behaviour,
Disciplines
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
This paper reports selected findings from a study funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council entitled “Developing Deep Critical Information Behaviour (IB)”.
The project ran from 2010 to 2012 and investigated the nature, extent and pattern of
occurrence of deep and surface IBs amongst students at secondary school and university,
studying in England. It also sought to investigate the extent to which, in the view of key
stakeholders (i.e. educators, librarians and administrators), the development of deep IB
could be enabled and fostered. The project used a mixed-methods approach: stage 1
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 74 No. 4, 2018
pp. 692-721
Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-07-2017-0097
Received 9 July 2017
Revised 12 November 2017
Accepted 12 November 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
© Andrew D. Madden, Sheila Webber, Nigel Ford and Mary Crowder. Published byEmerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone
may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article ( for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms
of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
692
JD
74,4
comprised interviews and focus groups with learners and stakeholders; and stage 2
consisted of a questionnaire-based survey carried out in schools, colleges and universities
in South Yorkshire and the Midlands.
The analysis reported here focusses on the relationship between students’preferred
choice of school subject and their IB (as self-reported, or reported by stakeholders).
As well as probing respondents’attitudes towards using information for their school
work, the questionnaire survey asked them to nominate the subjects they most liked
and disliked on the English National Curriculum. Thus this paper connects two areas
of IB research: learners’IB in formal education, and differences in IB relating to
academic discipline.
The underlying research problem is that of young people’s critical engagement with
information. Julien and Barker (2009, p. 12) noted that:
Widespread concern about a lack of searching skills and critical information evaluation skills,
particularly among students, is evident in the literature. […] Taken as a whole, then, the research
literature on information literacy skills among students demonstrates that students’skills are
generally lacking.
These concerns havenot abated in the intervening years (Goldman et al., 2016). For example
Coiro et al. (2015)found that only 25 per cent of a stratified random sampleof North American
12-13 year olds usedappropriate criteria to judge information quality. Indeed,the information
landscape has become more complex and problematic: recent studies have indicated that
people cede critical judgements to search engines (Sundin et al., 2017) and lack critical
awareness of news filtering (Powers, 2017).
1.1 Definition of terms
In the context of this study, information is held to be “a stimulus which […] amends the
World View of the informed”(Madden, 2004, p. 9). In other words, when students see or hear
something that alters their understanding of the world and/or their place within it, they are
considered to be receiving information.
This understanding of information accords well with prevailing views of IB. Wilson, who
originally coined the term IB (Wilson, 1981), defined it as:
[…] the totality of human behavior in relation to sources and channels of information, including
both active and passi ve information seeking, and inform ation use. Thus, it includes face-to- face
communication wit h others, as well as the pas sive reception of in formation as in, for
example, watching TV advertisements, without any intention to act on the information given
(Wilson, 2000, p. 49).
As Case and Given (2016, p. 6) notes, IB therefore includes browsing and encountering
information; and the study of IB addresses “how people need, seek, give and use information
in different contexts”(Pettigrew et al., 2001, p. 44). These contexts may be everyday life, life
out of the ordinary (e.g. transition or crisis), the workplace, or formal education. This paper
considers aspects of IB that relate to the latter and explores the question of whether
students’subject preferences and choices impact on the extent to which they seek for,
evaluate and use information and the ways in which they go about it.
2. Literature review
This review focusses on three key areas:
(1) research which provides frameworks for analysing students’critical thinking,
IB and learning;
(2) research into learners’epistemological understandings; and
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Students’
subject
preferences
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