Young people’s conceptions of political information. Insights into information experiences and implications for intervention
| Date | 11 September 2017 |
| Published date | 11 September 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2017-0041 |
| Pages | 877-902 |
| Author | Lauren N. Smith,David McMenemy |
| 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 |
Young people’s conceptions
of political information
Insights into information experiences
and implications for intervention
Lauren N. Smith and David McMenemy
Department of Computer and Information Sciences,
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this pape r is to explore young peo ple’s conceptions of po litical information .
The study sought to ident ify what political informat ion sources young people enco unter, how they construe
these sources and the messages they communicate, and how the information experiences of young
people may be better und erstood to inform informatio n literacy interventions t o support the development of
political agency.
Design/methodology/approach –Using personalconstruct theory as a conceptual framework,repertory
grid (RG) interviews we re used to explore the d ifferent ways in which 2 3 young people aged 14-1 5
from a town in Northern E ngland conceive of pol itical information an d how they evaluate its q uality
and authority.
Findings –The study identified the sources of information young people engage with for finding and
receiving what they understand as political information. The results from the RG interviews indicated that
young people use a wide range of sources of political information to become informed about politics and the
world around them. These sources of information include family, friends, teachers, television news,
newspapers, radio shows, comedy shows, social media and community meetings. Participants were aware
that they passively encounter information sources as well as actively engage in debate and discussion with
other sources. Some participants had difficulty critically evaluating the political information sources they
encounter. The nature of young people’s experiences of political information varied greatly. The degree of
complexity in the experiences of political information varied not only between participants but was also
dependent on their particular relationship with the information sources under scrutiny.
Research limitations/implications –The paper has implications for personal construct analysis as a
research approach broadly, from the point of view of its use within library and information science research.
It is the first study to apply the personal construct approach to the study of young people’s political
information use and to consider implications for information literacy support that would have been difficult to
access using other approaches.
Practical implications –The paper provides insight into an understudied area; that of young people’s
conceptions of political information. This insight may be used to inform the improvement of political
information provision and information literacy support for young people.
Social implications –A deeper understanding of the different ways in which young people identify, engage
with and use information for political purposes may contribute to a clearer understanding of young people’s
information needs, ideally leading to improved political education and a strengthened democratic process.
Originality/value –The paper explores a relat ively under-research ed area of library and info rmation
science research, and do es so using a relatively un der-used method in the do main. Insights into
the perceived characte ristics of different sour ces of political inform ation are novel and contrib ute to the
development of informa tion behaviour and info rmation literacy field s in terms of informatio n for
empowerment and democ racy.
Keywords Information literacy, Information behaviour, Young people, Misinformation,
Political participation, Civic engagement, Fake news
Paper type Research paper
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 73 No. 5, 2017
pp. 877-902
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-03-2017-0041
Received 27 March 2017
Revised 18 April 2017
Accepted 20 April 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
The authorswould like to thank the researchparticipants for their contributions, the ESRC forproviding
the funding to support this research, colleagues and reviewers for their insightful comments that have
aided the improvement of the paper. This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research
Council under the Scottish ESRC Doctoral Training Centre DTG initiative (Grant No. 17435RS4729).
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Young people’s
conceptions
Introduction
To be able to participate effectively in political processes, including elections, referendums
and participatory policy making at the local level, citizens need to be able to develop
informed perspectives and make judgements consistent with their views, based on the
information they encounter from a wide range of sources. While the importance of
informed decision making is universal, particular emphasis has been given recently to
young people, with research moving away from presenting young people as apathetic to a
more complex exploration of how young people define and participate in politics
(Vromen et al., 2015). However, little is known about how young people are exposed to,
understand and use political information in the context of their varied interactions with
political life. Where research does exist, it often takes a deficit approach, framing young
people as lacking effective information skills (Whitworth, 2009; Rieh and Hilligoss, 2008;
Johnson and Kaye, 2000).
As part of a wider study, this paper presents an insight into the different ways young
people construe political information sources, including the ways in which they may assess,
judge or evaluate the information they encounter, which we achieve through using the
repertory grid (RG) technique to interview young people and explicitly explore their
perceptions of political information sources. The study focusses on identifying the range of
political information sources from the perspective of the young people themselves, where
“political”and “information”are determined by the individual, and gaining deep insights
into the ways they construe these sources.
An insight into young people’s political information experiences is of value to support
informed decision making and encourage participation in civic life. Gaining an
understanding of how young people understand and evaluate political information is
important, because youth disengagement from political processes, as well as young people’s
ability to critically evaluate information, have significant implications for the health and
functioning of democratic society.
The issues of young people’s political engagement and information use are complex and
levels of political participation are not easily measured. Many studies identify deficits in
young people’s political knowledge and engagement, as well as their information skills
(Whitworth, 2009; Rieh and Hilligoss, 2008; Johnson and Kaye, 2000). This has significant
implications when it comes to the ability of young people to access and interpret political
information to allow them to make informed decisions with regards to their roles as active
citizens, but may not be representative of the whole picture, given that studies make
assumptions about how young people conceive of “politics”as a concept, and how young
people understand and use information to develop knowledge.
Consideration of the role of library and information practitioners in supporting political
information use is perhaps at its most relevant within a political information landscape of
misinformation (Lewandowsky et al., 2012; Weeks, 2015), disinformation (Kates, 1998),
propaganda (Herman and Chomsky, 1994) and bullshit (Frankfurt, 2005), all of which are
issues of particular relevance in the discourse around the “fake news”phenomenon
(Hunt, 2016). School libraries do offer support to students around information evaluation
to some extent, but a gap in provision has been identified (Harlan, 2016; Smith, 2016).
Work towards improving how school libraries support media and information literacy in
relation to current events, news reporting and political issues have been drawn to
particular attention in light of recent and widespread public discourse around“fake news”
( Johnson, 2016; Tiffany, 2016).
Research following the outcomes of recent political events, including the Referendum on
the UK European Union membership and the US Presidential Election, both held in 2016,
indicates that individuals’political participation and decision making takes place in a
complex set of circumstances with many cognitive and affective variables at play.
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