Self -Views of Information Seeking Skills: Undergraduates

1
Self -Views of Information Seeking Skills
Undergraduates Understanding of What It Means
to be Information Literate

• Melissa Gross Don Latham
• OCLC/ALISE Research Project

2
Overview

1. Background
2. Study design
3. Research questions
4. Participants
5. Data collection
6. Results
7. Implications
8. Future research

3
Background

• Information literacy (IL) skills are crucial in
  todays society
• Information Power, ACRLs IL Competency Standards
• Competency theory (Kruger Dunning, 1999)
  suggests that non-proficient individuals are less
  likely than proficient students to be able to
  self-assess their skill set accurately.
• Previous research suggests that competency theory
  applies in the domain of IL (Gross Latham,
  2007).
• Bruce (1997) studied how educators in higher ed
  understand IL
• Very little research has been done into how
  undergraduates understand IL and their own IL
  skills

4
Study Design

• Participants were recruited from the freshman
  class at FSU.
• Semi-structured interviews were conducted with
  participants.
• Information literacy measured using the
  Information Literacy Test (ILT) developed at
  James Madison University (n.d.).

5
Research Questions

• Perceptions of information literacy
• What are freshmens understandings of what IL is?
• Do freshmens conceptions of IL vary for
  self-generated and imposed information seeking?
• What knowledge base do freshmen see as necessary
  to become information literate?
• What skills do freshmen see as necessary to be a
  competent information seeker?
• How do freshmen define successful information
  seeking?

6
Research Questions (cont.)

• II. Perceptions of attaining information literacy
• How have freshmen learned what they know about
  IL?
• Are freshmen ideas about learning IL different
  for self-generated and imposed information
  seeking?
• How do freshmen think that the knowledge base
  necessary for IL is best achieved?
• How do freshmen think that the skills necessary
  for IL are best achieved?

7
Research Questions (cont.)

• III. Self-views of information literacy
• How do freshmen describe themselves in terms of
  their IL competency?
• Do freshmens self-views of their own information
  seeking vary for self-generated and imposed
  information needs?
• How do freshmen assess their own knowledge base
  as regards IL?
• How do freshmen assess their own skill levels as
  regards IL?
• How do freshmens self-assessments of IL compare
  to their scores on a standardized test of
  information literacy?

8
Participants

• Second-semester freshmen at Florida State
  University
• Recruited via an email solicitation
• Targeted freshmen in the top 10 and bottom 10
  as identified by admissions criteria
• High school GPA
• ACT / adjusted SAT score

9
Demographics

• Total of 20 participants
• Gender
• 15 (75) females
• 5 (25) males
• Age
• Almost all were 18 or 19 years of age

10
Demographics (cont.)

• Segment
• Top 10 17 (85)
• Bottom 10 3 (15)
• Majors
• STEM 8
• Business/Economics 5
• Music 3
• Humanities 3
• Education 2
• Undecided 1
• Note 2 people were double majoring

11
Incentives

• Students were given a 30 gift card to the
  university bookstore for participating in the
  interview.
• They were given a 20 gift card for taking the
  ILT.
• Students were told that those who scored in the
  top 15 on the ILT would be eligible for a
  drawing to receive one of two 50 gift cards.

12
Data Collection ILT

• Computer-based test
• Provides individual scores
• Measures information literacy, based on the ACRL
  Competency Standards (ICT measures both
  information computer literacy.)
• Has been validated and tested for reliability

13
ILT Response Time Analysis

• Performed by researchers at JMU
• Looks at the time spent on each question posed by
  the ILT by the individual respondent
• Compares time spent to benchmarks determined for
  each question concerning the minimum time it
  takes a person to answer it, if it is fully read
  and responded to
• Our results indicate that students spent a
  reasonable amount of time on each question

14
Interviews

• Semi-structured interviews
• Each was 45 to 60 minutes.
• Both researchers were present during the
  interview--one asked the questions the other
  took notes.
• The interviews were recorded and later
  transcribed by a graduate assistant.
• Both researchers coded the interviews and then
  compared their coding.
• Analysis used constant comparative method.

15
Results

• ILT scores
• Interview data

16
Interpreting ILT Scores(Wise, Cameron, Yang
Davis, n.d.)

• 65 questions on the test
• 60 questions count 5 are questions in
  development
• gt 53 Advanced
• 39-53 Proficient
• lt 39 Non-proficient

17
Results ILT Scores

• Overall, these students have proficient
  information literacy skills
• One student scored as advanced, with a score of
  54.
• One student scored as non-proficient, with a
  score of 38.
• 18/20 students scored as proficient, with scores
  between 39 and 53.

18
Results ILT Scores (cont.)
Score of Participants Level
54 1 (5) Advanced
48 - 53 10 (50) Proficient
42 - 47 8 (40) Proficient
38 1 (5) Non-proficient
19
Perceptions of information literacy

• Students were unfamiliar with the term
  information literacy
• Students see information seeking as comprised of
  thinking and learning skills, more than as
  computer or library skills
• Understanding/stating the question
• Ability to assess information quality
• Ability to match sources to questions
• Success is finding what you need to know

20
Self-generated versus imposed information seeking

• Imposed constrained

• Self-generated open

• Limited number of acceptable resource types can
  be used
• Deadline/due date
• Need to develop an interest if it isnt naturally
  there (if you can)

• A wealth of resource types available (but fewer
  sources tend to be used)
• You decide when you are done
• Motivated by genuine interest even if that
  interest is casual

21
Use of others in information seeking

• All but one respondent said they sought help from
  others
• All but three said others sought help from them
• Help took three forms
• Informants (when you want the answer)
• Agents (When you want someone to find the answer
  for you)
• Instructors (When you want to be taught
  something)

22
Perceptions of attaining information literacy

• How they know what they know
• Most see themselves as self taught
• Many credit a parent (mostly mom)
• Formal training, if it occurs tends to take place
  in elementary school
• New skills are best learned
• As they are needed
• Face-to-face, one-on-one
• Comfortable environment
• Chance to practice

23
Self-views of information literacy

• Confident about their ability, but dont feel
  that they know/do anything special
• Most recognize that ability varies among their
  cohort at school
• They see computer skills and information seeking
  as activities they have been engaged in over the
  course of their life and have adapted to
  naturally

24
Implications

• Previous academic success is a fairly good
  predictor of performance on the ILT among this
  group of respondents.
• However, 45 of our study group scored as either
  low proficient (below 80) or non-proficient
  (below 65).
• Excellent students are not necessarily highly
  proficient in IL.

25
Implications (cont.)

• Students are unlikely to receive (or at least to
  remember receiving) IL instruction beyond
  elementary school.
• What can be done to insure that IL skill
  development is incorporated throughout all school
  levels? And across the curriculum?
• Students like learning IL skills on their own and
  with their peers.
• How can we design instruction that incorporates
  both individual, self-paced, and collaborative
  learning?

26
Implications (cont.)

• Students claim to know that the web contains not
  totally reliable resources (not good enough for
  serious school assignments). But they are
  likely to use the web for their own information
  seeking, even in important matters like choosing
  a college, planning a trip, or making a decision
  about a purchase.
• How can we exploit the natural motivation that
  comes from self-generated information seeking and
  connect that to the exploration of databases and
  other resources beyond the web?

27
Implications (cont.)

• The term information literacy is unlikely to
  resonate with students. So how can we talk about
  IL?
• Most do recognize the basic skills that we call
  IL. Is that a place to start?
• Many assume that everyone their age has these
  skills.
• Can this be leveraged toward building motivation
  into IL instruction?
• Students recognize the importance of technical
  skills, but they dont necessarily prefer
  technology-mediated instruction (such as web
  modules, podcasts, etc.).
• What does this mean for distance ed and virtual
  help?

28
Future Research

• Identifying the non-proficient
• Developing a model of the user view of
  information literacy
• Moving from understanding to intervening and
  establishing a minimum skill level for
  non-proficient students

29
References

• Bruce, C. (1997). The seven faces of information
  literacy. Australia Auslib Press Pty Ltd.
• Gross, M. (2005). The impact of low-level skills
  on information seeking behavior Implications of
  competency theory for research and practice.
  Reference and User Services Quarterly, 45, 54-62.
• Gross, M. Latham, D. (2007). Attaining
  information literacy An investigation of the
  relationship between skill level, self-estimates
  of skill, and library anxiety. Library and
  Information Science Research, 29, 332-353.
• James Madison University. (n.d.). The Information
  Literacy Test. Retrieved December 12, 2005 from
  http//www.jmu.edu/assessment/wm_library/ILT.pdf
• Kruger, J. Dunning, D. (1999). Unskilled and
  unaware of it How difficulties in recognizing
  ones own incompetence lead to inflated
  self-assessments. Journal of Personality and
  Social Psychology, 77, 1121-1134.
• Wise, S.L., Cameron, L., Yang, S., Davis, S.
  (n.d.). Information literacy test. Test
  development and administration manual. James
  Madison University.

30
Thank you.

• Melissa Gross
• mgross_at_ci.fsu.edu

• Don Latham
• latham_at_ci.fsu.edu