Changes in Search Tactics and Relevance Judgements when Preparing a Research Proposal A Summary of the Findings of a Longitudinal Study

  • Authors:

  • Pertti Vakkari

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Information Studies, University of Tampere, Finland. Pertti.Vakkari@uta.fi

  • Venue:
  • Information Retrieval
  • Year:
  • 2001

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Abstract

The article summarizes the empirical results on relations between students' problem stages in the course of writing their research proposals for their master's theses and the information sought, choice of search terms and tactics and relevance assessments of the information found for that task. The study is based on Kuhlthau's model of the information search process. The results of the study show that there is a close connection between the students' problem stages (mental model) in the task performance and the information sought, search tactics used, and the assessment of the relevance and utility of the information found. The corroborated hypotheses extend and specify ideas in Kuhlthau's model in the domain of IR. A theory of task-based information searching based on the empirical findings of the study is presented.