Thinking style and strategies of informational behaviour of internet users

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background The development of digital reality sets the task of studying the thinking styles and strategies of working with information of higher school students. The style of thinking is understood by the authors as a kind of combination of thinking functions aimed at the perception, analysis and processing of information. The aim of the research is to study the features of students’ thinking styles and strategies of their informational behaviour in the context of Internet interaction. Methods The study was carried out using the author’s questionnaire ‘Style of thinking’, the methodology ‘Strategies of informational behaviour’ (Abakumova, Grishina, and Zvezdina 2022). The sample included 115 students of both genders aged 18–21 years. The study was conducted on the basis of Kalmyk State University (Elista, Kalmykia, Russia). Results Groups of students with dominant styles of thinking were identified. It was shown that the severity and ratio of informational behaviour strategies differs among students with different dominant thinking styles. Significant relationships between the styles of thinking and strategies of informational behaviour of students were revealed. Conclusions Thinking styles and strategies of information behaviour of students have significant relationships.