A Content Analysis of Strategies and Tactics Observed Among MLIS Students in an Online Searching Course

Online searching is a skill that all professional programs educating librarians consider an essential part of their curricula. However, investigations of online searching behavior have centered almost exclusively on end users, and there have been no recent formal studies that explore the online sear...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education for library and information science 2017-07, Vol.58 (3), p.141-159
Main Authors: Ondrusek, Anita L., Ren, Xiaoai, Yang, Changwoo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assignments
Boolean
CAI
Coding
Computer assisted instruction
Content Analysis
Control Groups
Curricula
Data Analysis
Dissertations & theses
Distance learning
End users
Graduate Students
III. Peer Reviewed Research Papers
Information professionals
Information Retrieval
Information Science Education
Information sources
Learning Strategies
Librarians
Library and information science
Library associations
Library Education
Library Schools
Library science
Library students
Masters Programs
Medical libraries
Medical research
Online instruction
Online Searching
Qualitative analysis
Qualitative Research
Research Methodology
Researchers
Schools of library and information science
Science Curriculum
Science education
Search Strategies
Searching
State Universities
Student Evaluation
Students
Studies
Tactics
Teachers
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Summary:Online searching is a skill that all professional programs educating librarians consider an essential part of their curricula. However, investigations of online searching behavior have centered almost exclusively on end users, and there have been no recent formal studies that explore the online searching behaviors of MLIS students. In this study, the researchers conducted a qualitative content analysis by coding documents collected from assignments in an MLIS online searching course. The analysis used typologies derived from previous research that identified specific strategies and tactics employed in information retrieval. Taken as a whole, the results suggested that there are signposts instructors can expect to encounter when evaluating strategies and tactics in online searching assignments. The typologies provided the vocabulary needed to classify those strategies and tactics—a key ingredient for future studies of online searching performance.
ISSN:0748-5786
2328-2967
2328-2967
DOI:10.12783/issn.2328-2967/58/3/2