NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social sciences, education, technology, youth, educational resources, students, research training

Objective(s): The research project is designed to examine the information seeking processes of junior high school students. This will focus on these processes through student use of CD-ROM encyclopedias. The study will include students at the Inuvik high school with a range of experiences, knowledge of computers and CD-ROM encyclopedias and academic abilities selected by their core classroom teachers. The context within which the participants search will be explored through observations in the school and through interviews with the key informants in the school and community. Verbal protocol analysis, the Think Aloud and Think After methods, interviews and observations to gain an understanding of the information seeking processes of approximately 18 students. Implications from the case study will assist teachers and librarians in teaching junior high students how to access information more effectively from electronic encyclopedias and other on-line research tools.

Project Description: The researcher will meet with community members, parents, students, teachers and school administrators to learn about the information seeking processes of junior high students. The equipment used on site will include a computer with CD-ROM capabilities, audio cassette recorder and video cassette recorder. The methods of data collection will include interviews, observations and verbal protocol analysis. Verbal protocol analysis is a way to gain information about a person's thought processes while working on a task. In this case, the Think Aloud method, talking aloud while searching for information on a CD-ROM encyclopedia, and the Think After method, talking aloud after searching, will be used. Main questions include: 1) what information seeking processes do junior high students use when accessing CD-ROM encyclopedias, 2) How similar and different are these information seeking processes when junior high students search for information on self generated, teacher generated and researcher-generated topics?, 3) What experiential factors do participants, key informants and the researcher see as important to an understanding of the information seeking processes of junior high students?. Will also talk with teachers, administrators and other community members to gain insights into the information seeking processes of students. Data will be stored in a locked cabinet at all times during data collection and pseudonyms will be used on all documents and permission and consent forms will be used. When research is complete all video and audio tapes will be destroyed. All transcripts will contain only the pseudonyms and will be maintained until the thesis is complete.