Information as process: The difference between corroborating evidence and “information” in humanistic research domains

摘要

The article reports the results of a non-randomized study of 45 history Ph.D. students, and discusses the results in terms of the theory of knowledge structure and the modification of knowledge structure due to “information” discussed in Cole (Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 45, 465–476, 1994). In the study, the Ph.D. students answered questions about the circumstances surrounding recent information events—events which resulted in the Ph.D. students becoming informed while reading for their thesis. Using the grounded theory methodology of Glaser and Strauss (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1967), patterns of cognitive activity during an information process were observed, and a model of what an information process may be like for the history Ph.D. students interviewed is proposed based on an analysis of these similarities. The model of the information process is made up of five stages, which happen one after the other, but which may be separated by long periods of time. Associated with these stages are two different types of information seeking behaviour: unconscious-unfocused and conscious-focused.