Information Seeking Behaviour of Students of ECWA Theological (JETS) Jos
Chapter One
Objectives of the Study
Studying the Information seeking behaviour of students of ECWA Theological (JETS) Jos will enable libraries and academic librarian deliver standard services which will improve the academic performance of their students. This study sought to establish ways of improving the information–seeking behaviour of students. To attain this goal, the study stipulated the following objectives:
- To find out the sources of information students are familiar with.
- To discover the information needs of students
- To determine the students’ information demand and use
- To establish the problems that students encounter in information seeking
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter reviews relevant literature relating to the study. According to Babbie (2005), a literature review is a summary of what is currently known about some issue or field, and/or what lines of argument there are in relation to that issue or field. Webster and Watson (2002) indicate that “effective literature review must create a firm foundation for increasing knowledge.” “It should facilitate theory development, close areas where [overabundance] of research exists, and [discover] new areas of research.” (p. xiii). It must also show gaps in the research to pinpoint areas worthy of additional study. Consequently, this section reviews relevant literature on the current study. It includes the following sections: Definition of concepts, including information seeking behaviour; information needs and information sources; empirical research on information seeking behaviour of students; and summary of the literature.
Literature review
Information Seeking Behaviour deals with the psychological behaviour of the seeker. It involves the searching, locating, retrieving and using of information (Karunarathna, 2008).Wilson (2008) posits that, “Information seeking behavior is the purposive seeking for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal. Information seeking behaviour can be described as an individual’s manner of gathering and sourcing information for personal use, knowledge updating and development (Emmanuel, George & Oni, 2010). Ellis (1989) in his information seeking behaviour model identified six actions in sourcing for information, which include: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. According to Ellis, ‘starting’ is identifying the initial materials to search through and selecting starting points for the search. He explained ‘Chaining’ as following leads from the starting source to referential connections to other sources that contribute new sources of information. Ellis simply explains ‘browsing’ as casually looking for information in areas of interest. ‘Differentiating’, one of the search strategies as explained by Ellis is selecting among the known sources by noting the distinctions of characteristics and value of the information. ‘Monitoring’ is keeping up-to-date on a topic by regularly following specific sources as well as using small set of care sources including key personal contacts and publications. ‘Extracting’ is methodically analyzing sources to identify materials of interest. Information seeking behaviour deals mainly with the study of information needs, demand and use by a particular set of people. The behaviour people exhibit while in search of information differs significantly according to background, culture, conditions, needs, and requirements.
A lot of studies have been conducted on the information seeking behaviour of undergraduate students. The study by Barakutty and Salih (1999) cited by Owolabi (2007) at Calicut University, India, shows that the students used the Internet as the major source of information for their academic development. Kakai, Ikoja and Kigongo (2004) in their study observed that most students concentrate on using particular materials recommended by either their lecturers or colleagues who have used them before, rather than searching to find the most appropriate document to use. Ajiboye and Tella (2007) maintain that the way students organize their learning and search for information is crucial to their overall performance. Wilberley and Jones (2000) asserted that, though undergraduate students in the humanities do turn more frequently to librarians, they do so with some reluctance. According to the findings of Kim, Joanna and Yoo- lee (2013), almost all participants (98.6%) reported using Wikipedia as an information source, while (95.7%) of the participants reported that Face book is an important source of information to them. These researchers agreed that social media is an important source of information for undergraduate students. Mabawonku (2005) highlights ways in which students can seek for information, which include colleagues, the Internet, library, friends, family members, recognized institutions, agencies, and private organizations. Mann (2003) posited that most researchers, even with computers, find only a fraction of the sources available to them. He explained that undergraduates tend to work within one or another mental framework that limits their basic perception of the universe of knowledge available to them. Students according to him use a subject-disciplinary method that leads them to a specific list of sources on a particular subject. He points out that while this method allows students and researchers to find more specific sources, it is limiting in that they may not realize that work of interest to their own subject appears within the literature of many other disciplines.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we would describe how the study was carried out.
Research design
A Survey research method was used to carry out this study because of its large population to examine Information seeking behaviour of students of ECWA Theological (JETS) Jos .
Sources of Data
The data for this study were generated from two main sources; Primary sources and secondary sources. The primary sources include questionnaire, interviews and observation. The secondary sources include journals, bulletins, textbooks and the internet.
Population of the study
A study population is a group of elements or individuals as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitute of individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description (Prince Udoyen: 2019). In this study the study population constitute of all the students of the EWCA theological (JETS) Jos. The total population of the study was 1,816 students.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF DATE AND ANALYSIS
Out of 816 copies of the questionnaire that were administered to the undergraduate students, 665(81%) were retrieved. The data collected in the study is presented according to the objectives of the study.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Certain conclusions can be drawn from the study: students at the institution know the importance of information, given the fact that a majority of them seek information to improve their academic performance. In view of the foregoing, the following recommendations are made:
- That EWCA theological (JETS) Jos, students should be exposed to interactive learning that would implant the habit and skills of researching in Information and Knowledge Management
- Institution administration should provide more books and journals to the library.
- The students should be educated on the importance and use of information in their academic pursuits.
- Training programmes should be organized for the library staff so they can be more effective in meeting students’ information needs.
- Information sources should be well-organized, classified accurately, and entered in the catalogue.
- Computer training should be introduced so as to enhance search skills of the students.
References
- Ajiboye, J, Tella, A (2007), University Undergraduate Students’ Information Seeking Behaviour: Implications For Quality In Higher Education In Africa. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – TOJET, 6 (1)
- Akinola, S.F, (2009). Information Seeking Behaviour of Lecturers in Faculties of
- Education, Obafemi A wolowo University, Ile-Ife and University of Ibadan. Samaru Journal of Information Studies,9(2)
- Baro, EE and Fyneman, B. (2009). Information literacy among undergraduate students in Niger Delta University. The Electronic Library, 27 (4): 659-675.
- Bhatti, R. (2008). Information needs of students: Islamia University Library, Bahawalpur.
- Bruce, H. (2005). Personal, anticipated information need. Information Research 10 (3)
- Case, D. O. (2002). Looking for information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs and behavior. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Ellis, D. 1989. A behavioral model for information retrieval system design. Journal of Information Science, 15 (4): 237-247
- Emmanuel E.B, George O.O & Oni O (2010): Information seeking behaviour of undergraduate students in the humanities in three universities in Nigeria. South Africa Journal of Library & Information Science, 76(2)
