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Collaborating
for deep
critical
information
behaviour
Sheila Webber
Nigel Ford
Mary Crowder
Andrew Madden
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research
Council, 2010-12 (15 months)
Professor Nigel
Ford - Principal
Investigator
Mary Crowder -
Researcher
Dr Andrew
Madden -
Researcher
Sheffield University, Information School, Centre for Information Literacy Research
“Information Behavior is the totality of human behavior in
relation to sources and channels of information, including
both active and passive information seeking, and
information use. Thus, it includes face-to-face
communication with others, as well as the passive reception
of information as in, for example, watching TV
advertisements, without any intention to act on the
information given.” Wilson, 2000
Research Questions
1. How prevalent are relatively surface and deep critical levels of information behaviour (IB) amongst school and university students in the UK?
2. What are differences in the IB of students at different points in their development through school and university – particularly in transition from school to university?
3. What are the drivers and inhibitors of such behaviour?
Theoretical frameworks
• Research into approaches to learning (e.g. Marton
et al. 1984)
• IB and Information Literacy (IL) research which
focuses on motivation/ study approaches/ personal
characteristics (e.g. Ford et al, 2003)
• Model developed by Crowder & Pupynin (1993) into
motivation for training
Methods • Qualitative
– 72 one-to-one interviews
– 86 people in focus groups
– of these 158, 105 were students and 53 were staff (mostly teachers/lecturers)
– Thematic analysis
• Quantitative.
– Testing elements in the model of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and effort, mostly 5 point Likert scales
– Minor differences in questionnaires for schools, 6th form colleges/FE and universities Administered online and in print
– Used SPSS for analysis; ANOVAs, correlation and regression analysis.
Samples: Questionnaires analysed
School children
• Key stage 3 (ages 12-14) - 240
• Key stage 4 (15-16) - 119
• Key stage 5 (16-18) - 341
• Total - 700
From 8 secondary schools and
3 sixth form colleges in South
Yorkshire
University students
• Y1 - 234
• Y2 - 144
• Y3 - 112
• Total - 490
From 4 universities in South
Yorkshire and the Midlands
Notes: original sample size was 802 school + 948 university students: data was cleaned by removing those educated
previously outside the UK, and by stratified random deselection of female participants in order to control for the effect of
gender, to enable comparison across study level
Samples: focus groups / interview
Schools & FE/6th form colleges
• Key stage 3 (Year 7, 11-12 yrs) - 27
• Key stage 3 (Year 8) - 7
• Key stage 3 (Year 9) - 8
• Key stage 4 (Year 10) - 2
• Key stage 5 (Year 12/Level 3 (1st year) - 33
• Schools - 6 teachers, 6 librarians, 3 other
staff
• FE/6th form - 21 teachers, 2 librarians, 4
other staff
University
• 1st year undergraduate - 9
• 2nd year UG - 5
• 3rd year UG - 13
• 4th year UG - 1
• Academics - 8
• Librarians - 3
Numbers = individuals
Note that …
analysis is not complete and these are
some selected findings!
Motivation - effort
Expectation that
effort will result in
extrinsic reward
Perception
that the
activity
requires effort
Effort
expended on
the activity
Expectation that
effort will result
in intrinsic
reward
Intrinsic
reward is
valued
Extrinsic
reward is
valued
Confidence in
being able to
perform the
activity
Model being tested – based on Crowder & Pupynin (1993)
Intrinsic rewards “involved with the human need for being self-determining” (Deci, 1975)
Extrinsic rewards are ones mediated by external agents (e.g. teachers, managers)
Note that
rewards are
not always
valued, and
thus do not
always
motivate
Biggest motivations were extrinsic
• 92% school students and 94% UGs motivated all or
most of the time to get the best marks they could
• 89% school students and 89% UGs motivated by
wanting to get good qualifications
• 60% school students and 45% UGs motivated
all/most of the time by wanting to please other
people
Effort expended (ee) on … was predicted by
ee on finding information
• Being female
• Being motivated intrinsically – Learning as much as I can
– Being satisfied I‟ve done my best
• Being motivated extrinsically – Getting the best marks I can
• Perception that a lot of effort required
• Expecting extrinsic reward
• Expecting intrinsic reward
ee on evaluating trustworthiness
• Being motivated intrinsically
– Learning as much as I can
– Being satisfied I‟ve done my best
• Being motivated extrinsically
– Getting the best marks I can
• Expecting extrinsic reward
• Expecting intrinsic reward
• Confidence in being able to
perform the activity
Effort expended (ee) on …was predicted by
ee on understanding information used in coursework
• Being female
• Being in an older study year
• Being motivated intrinsically
– Learning as much as I can
– Being satisfied I‟ve done my best
• Perception that a lot of effort required
• Expecting intrinsic reward
• Confidence in being able to perform the activity
Confidence
• In interviews, learners‟ lack of confidence identified by a number of teachers and lecturers as a factor that impacts on student information behaviour; possible reasons include
– Lack of literacy skills
– Lack of confidence in own thinking
– Low self esteem
• Can lead to copy-paste, feeling that one is ill-fitted to question/evaluate etc.
• There is research linking anxiety and fear of failure with surface approaches to learning and poor performance
Implications could include …
• Confidence building important for evaluating and
understanding information
• For crucial stage of “understanding” information,
applying extrinsic motivations less important than
aiming to foster intrinsic motivation (interest in the
subject, satisfaction with having understood etc.)
• Stressing to learners that effort is required for
finding and understanding information … though …
Feeling overwhelmed by information was
predicted by
• Perceiving that a lot of effort is required
• Being a lower school year of study
• NOT being motivated intrinsically to “learn as much as I
can”
• Being motivated extrinsically in terms of pleasing others
• NOT finding it easy to keep up with work
• Struggling to understand what is required for a good
piece of work
Notable that …
more guidance wanted from teachers
• 62% of school students and 54% of UGs wanted it
in relation to finding information
• 65% of school students and 52% of undergraduates
wanted it in relation to evaluating information
• 60% of school students and 58% of UGs wanted it
in relation to selecting relevant information
• 54%) and 44% UGs wanted it in relation to making
use of the information they found
Guidance
• Identifies importance of supporting development of
each aspect (e.g. not just the “finding” stage)
• In interviews, staff noted balance required between
support and spoon-feeding
• Does provide evidence that might be used to show
that explicit support in all these areas is wanted by
learners
Levels of study
Picking out just one group of findings …
Transition: example
• 94% of school students and 98% of UGs reported they had to find information for themselves in order to do work at least some of the time
• The proportion of responses indicating all or most of the time increased from school (43%) to university (75%)
• However, 45% UGs felt that they were not even adequately prepared by their former study to know how to find information for their assignments
• 29% of UGs felt that they were poorly or very poorly prepared for evaluating information sources
• Adds further, specific evidence about where the
transition to university is problematic
• Interview data gives further insight into changed
requirements for finding information, once learners
reach university
Deep, critical IB?
Approaches to study
Surface
• Memorising
• Skim reading
• Atomistic approach (finding bits to put together)
• Selecting from the material
• Intention to reproduce
Deep
• Meaning making, connecting
• Looking at whole texts to understand the author‟s intention
• Selecting within the material
• Intention to understand
Strategic
• Identifying what is
required by
marker/examiner and
focusing on that
• May or may not involve
understanding
(depends on what the
task is)
• Intention to succeed
or excel (in an
assignment, exam)
e.g. Marton et al. 1984; Newble and Entwistle, 1986
Research has linked IB/IL and aspects of
study approach
• Use of approaches to study questionnaire:
– Ford et al. (2003) identified e.g. fear of failure associated with intention to reproduce in searching
– Heinstrom (2005) identified (surface approach) fast surfers, (deep approach) deep divers, broad scanners
• Qualitative research
– Ford (1986) identified sub-critical, surface-critical and deep-critical information behaviour
– McDowell (2004) identified minimalist, gathering, pinpointing and connecting pathways to information literacy
McDowell (2004): two perspectives on
“focus”
Internal perspective
• Process: Seeking meaning
• Outcome: achieving
understanding
External perspective
• Process: narrowing down
• Outcome: coherent
presentation
Raises issues of whether trying to extrinsically motivate students to
do specific targeted searches to get specific pieces of information
for assignments is really going to develop understanding (which
could be used in other, slightly different, circumstances) … this
could reinforce a strategic approach
Some evidence from interviews
“mm, cos like ...that‟s like what I do as
well. I often just copy and paste the whole
thing onto word document, delete bits,
change bits, make it kind of my ..[own]”
(year 8 school student)
Surface approach?
• “L: No, you format it in your own words
• “Do you take notes and ...?
• “L: You umm.. you usually write down quickly, generally what it‟s saying and then
• “R: then you get a few pictures and stuff
• “L: then you‟ll get some pictures, then you‟ll go through the writing and write it properly
• “R: put it in your own words”
(Year 8 school students)
But note that this process may require quite a lot of effort
• “Another problem is, I think, it‟s time that it takes to research something. Yeah. Because, because they‟re used to Googling it, coming up or whatever, they‟re used to instant information, in the media, on the internet, on their phone – everything is instant and there, and I think that they expect studying to be like that as well”. (Teacher of 6th form)
• [internet] “What is more convenient about it? “It‟s because it‟s like instant and you don‟t have to go through piles just to find one or two paragraphs that you actually want and stuff like that.” (6th form science student)
Strategic approach
• “On-line? Well first thing I would do is like if I am doing physics and it‟s AQA I will go straight onto AQA website and look at the syllabus for the subject I am doing then work on from that. “Right so do they have links out from there or? “No it‟s just I need to know what that is, it‟s just like basically explains what you need to know, ad you can just like figure it out from that what you need to learn.”
• Prefers the format that has the most explicit match with the task “It‟s not always tailored to your exam board when you go on line but then when you get the book it‟s exactly to your exam board. So it‟s to exactly your specification. “Is that the most important thing when you are looking for information? “Yes. “ (6th form school student)
“Scores on such questionnaires as the Approaches
and Study Skills Inventory for Students … are most
usefully seen as outcomes of teaching rather than as
measuring student differences. Responses to the
questionnaires tell us something about the quality of
the teaching environment precisely because students‟
predilections tend to adapt to the expected
requirements of different teaching environments”
(Biggs and Tang, 2007: 26)
Not just about the students
Approaches to teaching
Numerous research studies have identified
• Knowledge conveying categories (e.g. transferring knowledge, explaining curriculum)
• Intermediate categories (e.g. focus on student-teacher interaction)
• Facilitation of learning categories (e.g. facilitating conceptual change & understanding)
e.g. Samuelowitz and Bain (2001)
• Many teachers in school and college suggested that
pressure to meet government targets has resulted
in students being spoon-fed towards exams, with
less emphasis on the development of skills to find
and use information in support of their own learning
• One sixth-form teacher said that when they teach
outside the curriculum the students question why
they are doing something that is not on the syllabus
Students spotting (poor) approaches to teaching “L: But the teachers that don‟t care, they don‟t do it like that. They just do it the old,
sort of more old fashioned ..
“What’s the old fashioned way, tell me ..
“L: Just like information after information. Making you write it down
In a book? On a sheet?
“L: Yeah, just on a book
Taking notes?
“N: No
“L: Usually notes, that‟s a lot better cos you write it down the way you want it
“OK
“L: It‟s like copying ... just like go, go through a book and with like the questions in, you just do that and work your way through.
“R: Yeah”
(Year 8 school students)
• “Of when you copy and paste, and some teachers just... “Student 1: Some teachers are just oh, that‟ll be alright “Student 2: Yeah “Student 1: I don‟t think Miss xxxx cares” (Year7/Year9 group)
• “And when you get your homework back, do they write ... what sort of things do they write on it? “Year 8 student: It depends who the teacher is. Some of them don‟t care, they just tick”
• 6th former A: I think every teacher we‟ve got teaches differently, don‟t they
• 6th former B : Yeah. It‟s like we‟ve got one – and I‟m not going to mention names cos I don‟t want to get in to trouble
• No, well, it’s all ... I mean it’s completely confidential and I don’t know them anyway, but, equally, you don’t need to mention the name
• 6th former B : We‟ve got one teacher turns up, sets work, and ???? do evaluation of someone .. of a character someone‟ played and then just ..
• 6th former A : walk out
• Julie: You turn round, you go „sir I don‟t ..‟ – gone! You go „oh miss‟ and they‟ve gone, they‟ve walked out of class cos they‟ve gone to office to go and do some‟at. And they come back ...
• Right. So what’s the opposite of that? What’s the really good ... the teachers that help you to learn the best?
• 6th former B : When they sit down with, right, talk you through it
Though it isn‟t all bad
“Year 8 student: I think teachers hadn‟t actually ...
teachers are learning a lot more about how to
engage people”
Collaboration
• Currently: May be collaboration to encourage
surface and strategic approaches? e.g.
– Mostly using extrinsic motivators, which may not
encourage learning for understanding
– Formulaic guidelines e.g. avoid Wikipedia! use
journals! follow these steps for good searching!
– Emphasis on finding and evaluating (rather than
relevance and understanding in application) may not
help learners develop beyond the atomistic approach
Concluding ideas
• Parents and peers part of the collaboration (in positive and negative way) – could address this more explicitly
• Importance of how things are taught and assessed
• Students are observant, they will notice what matters
• Even if one has limited power in overall teaching approach: focus on questioning, encouraging, challenging (where appropriate), enthusing, giving and facilitating informal feedback
• Differentiating strategies for supporting different stages of the process of finding and using information – they all contribute to (or are symptomatic of) the study approach
Concluding ideas
• Not always using extrinsic motivators to encourage
engagement with IL – information is exciting!
• Let‟s collaborate on deep learning, for
understanding
• We hope evidence from the project will be helpful in
justifying support e.g. for supporting transition
Sheila Webber
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
Nigel Ford
References
• Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2007) Teaching for quality learning at university:
what the student does. 3rd ed. Maidenhead SRHE.
• Crowder, M. and Pupynin, K. (1993) The motivation to train: a review of
the literature and the development of a comprehensive model of
training motivation. Minds at Work, for the Department of Employment.
• Deci, E. L. (1975). Intrinsic motivation. New York: Plenum Publishing.
• Ford, N. (1986) “Psychological determinants of information needs: a
small-scale study of higher education students.” Journal of librarianship
and information science, 18 (1), 47-62.
• Ford, N., Miller, D and Moss, N. (2003) “Web search strategies and
approaches to studying.” Journal of the American Society of
Information Science and Technology, 54(6), 473-489.
• Heinström, J. (2005) "Fast surfing, broad scanning and deep diving: the
influence of personality and study approach on students' information-
seeking behavior." Journal of documentation, 61 (2), 228-247.
• Marton, F., Hounsell, D. and Entwistle, N. (Eds.) (1984) The Experience of
learning: implications for teaching and studying in higher education.
Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press.
• McDowell, L. (2004) Negotiating information literacy pathways : learner
autonomy in higher education. Unpublished PhD. Newcastle Upon Tyne:
University of Newcastle upon Tyne,
• Newble, D.I. and Entwistle, N.J. (1986) “Learning styles and approaches:
implications for medical education.” Medical education, 20, 162-195.
• Samuelowicz, K. and Bain, J.D. (2001) “Revisiting academics‟ beliefs
about teaching and learning”. Higher education, 41, 299-325
• Wilson, T.D. (2000) “Human information behavior.” Informing science, 3
(2), 49-55.
