Information Seeking Activities Research Articles

Social Media’s Role in Romantic Partners’ Retroactive Jealousy: Social Comparison, Uncertainty, and Information Seeking

Social media often have a dark side in romantic relationships. Affordances such as persistence, association, and visibility can promote romantic jealousy and the salience of relationship threats, including ex-partners. Retroactive jealousy occurs when a person feels upset about their partner’s romantic history even though ex-partners are not actively interfering in the current relationship. Interviews ( N = 36) probed how participants felt social networking sites (SNSs) promoted and mitigated retroactive romantic jealousy. Furthermore, we examined the consequences of these experiences. Participants indicated that SNSs lead to retroactive jealousy via social comparison, digital remnants, and relational uncertainty. In addition, participants used SNSs to gather information or monitor their partners. These information-seeking activities allowed them to disparage a romantic partner’s exes; avoid direct, interactive information seeking about exes; and digitally fact-check information the partner disclosed. Some participants reframed information about the ex-relationship or actively avoided SNSs to reduce retroactive jealousy. Although SNSs may be used in an attempt to mitigate retroactive jealousy, our findings suggest this strategy may backfire in some cases.

The impact of zero moment of truth on consumer buying decision: An exploratory research in Turkey

As a result of technological improvements, consumer purchase decision process deviates from its traditional behaviors. Considering the traditional consumer behavior, process of product purchase decision begins with being exposed to a stimulus, to various phases, finally to decision phase. Technological changes enable consumers to have ready access to available rich information about all types of products immediately after being exposed to a stimulus. At this stage, a new concept Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) plays a crucial role that accompanies more information seeking activity prior to going to the store. In this study, theoretical and existing academic literature investigated with a prior similar research conducted in US and Asia to analyze the results across different demographic segments, and to compare ZMOT against other MOTs.

When Trust Is Not Enough: A Serial Mediation Model Explaining the Effect of Race Identity, eHealth Information Efficacy, and Information Behavior on Intention to Participate in Clinical Research.

Black participants remain significantly underrepresented in clinical research. Mistrust in medical researchers has been named a key barrier to the successful enrollment of minority study participants. However, trust is a social-interactional construct, and its effects on behavior are complex. This study hypothesized that intention to participate in clinical research is mediated by trust in medical researchers, eHealth literacy, and information seeking behavior. The data were collected through an online survey ( N = 340) and analyzed to identify serial mediation. The model showed insignificant direct effect of race identity on behavioral intention, c' = -0.19, t(335) = -1.22, p = .22, but a significant total effect, c = -0.44, t(335) = -2.59, p < .01. The indirect effect of race identity on behavioral intention was also significant. The positive effect of trust in medical researchers on decisions to participate in clinical research can be amplified by stronger eHealth literacy and active information seeking, which can be supported through focused strategic health education and communication interventions. A focus on the development of information literacy that could provide prospective minority research volunteers with skills for informed decision making should be explored as an option for increasing mindful, informed participation in clinical research among currently underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.

Tools of the trade: Improving nurses' ability to access and evaluate research.

To evaluate the effect of a manager-required RN competency on staff nurses' perceived knowledge, ability and frequency of information-seeking activities. Basing clinical practice on research and standards of care is essential to delivering appropriate care with optimal outcomes. Nurses' information-seeking abilities are critical for acquiring evidence-based answers to aid clinical decision-making, yet nurses under-utilize library resources and report barriers. A unit manager sought to test the effect of an innovative competency for acquiring and appraising evidence for practice. This longitudinal descriptive study evaluated 28 nurses before and after a 1-hr class, as well as 5months later. The class covered library information services and the basics of critiquing research articles. Nurses had statistically significant improvements in four of five items measuring knowledge/ability and four of five items measuring frequency of information-seeking activities. At 5months, most knowledge/ability items increased. There was no effect of nurse characteristics on outcomes. A required competency improved nurses' knowledge, ability and frequency of acquiring and appraising evidence with a single 1-hr class and a hands-on practice activity. Unit managers can have great impact on nurses' use of evidence for practice.

Questioner or question: Predicting the response rate in social question and answering on Sina Weibo

With the noted popularity of social networking sites, people increasingly rely on these social networks to address their information needs. Although social question and answering is potentially an important venue seeking information online, it, unfortunately, suffers from a problem of low response rate, with the majority of questions receiving no response. To understand why the response rate of social question and answering is low and hopefully to increase it in the future, this research analyzes extrinsic factors that may influence the response probability of questions posted on Sina Weibo. We propose 17 influential factors from 2 different perspectives: the content of the question, and the characteristics of the questioner. We also train a prediction model to forecast a question's likelihood of being responded based on the proposed features We test our predictive model on more than 60,000 real-world questions posted on Weibo, which generate more than 600,000 responses. Findings show that a Weibo's question answerability is primarily contingent on the questioner versus the question. Our findings indicate that using appreciation emojis can increase a question's response probability, whereas the use of hashtags negatively influences the chances of receiving answers. Our contribution is in providing insights for the design and development of future social question and answering tools, as well as for enhancing social network users’ collaboration in supporting social information seeking activities.

Facilitating Time Critical Information Seeking in Social Media

Social media plays a major role in helping people affected by natural calamities. These people use social media to request information and help in situations where time is a critical commodity. However, generic social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are not conducive for obtaining answers promptly. Algorithms to ensure prompt responders for questions in social media have to understand and model the factors affecting their response time. In this paper, we draw from sociological studies on information seeking and organizational behavior to identify users who can provide timely and relevant responses to questions posted on social media. We first draw from these theories to model the future availability and past response behavior of the candidate responders and integrate these criteria with user relevance. We propose a learning algorithm from these criteria to derive optimal rankings of responders for a given question. We present questions posted on Twitter as a form of information seeking activity in social media and use them to evaluate our framework. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed framework is useful in identifying timely and relevant responders for questions in social media.

Information behaviors of elite scholars in the context of academic practice

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the information behaviors in which scholars regularly engage, in participants’ own words wherever possible, and discuss how those behaviors function in the broader landscape of scholars’ academic practice.Design/methodology/approachScholars’ information behaviors were investigated using semi-structured interviews, along with document analysis. Three scholars recognized for significant contributions to their fields were identified from each of the three major divisions of academia (humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences) using intensity sampling, for a total of nine participants. Interviews asked each participant to describe a recent research project from conceptualization to completion, focusing on how scholars engaged with ideas, information resources, tools, and processes.FindingsInformation behaviors were found to permeate scholars’ work from conceptualization through publication, and included behaviors such as skimming, reading, data collection and analysis, and writing. Of particular interest are the specific information behaviors that fall into the broader category of information use.Originality/valueThis study uses established definitions of information behaviors to broaden the information behaviors conversation to include the entirety of academic practice. The study shows how scholars from across the academy engage with information throughout the course of their academic work, not just when they are engaged in more traditional information seeking activities.

Men's information-seeking behavior regarding cancer risk and screening: A meta-narrative systematic review.

Preventive strategies are known to reduce cancer risk and incidence and improve prognosis. Men seldom seek medical information about cancer prevention and risk reduction. The aim of this meta-narrative systematic review was to critically appraise evidence from qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods studies that explored men's information-seeking behaviors in relation to cancer prevention and risk reduction. MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, Education Full Text, and ERIC were systematically searched for studies published in English between January 1, 2006 and May 30, 2016. A total of 4117 titles were identified; of which, 31 studies were included (21 qualitative studies, 9 quantitative studies, and 1 mixed-methods study). The methodological quality of the studies was appraised by using different tools. Most studies focused on screening for prostate (n=18) and colorectal cancer (n=7). Most men were passive information-gatherers rather than active information-seekers. Key sources of information included the Internet for active information-seekers and health care professionals for passive information-gatherers. Barriers to information-seeking included information overload, embarrassment, and fear. Low literacy and health literacy levels were addressed in 3 studies and were identified as impediments to active information-seeking. Facilitators to information-seeking included family support, media, celebrity endorsements, and targeted information. Men's information-seeking behavior regarding cancer risk reduction, prevention, and screening is influenced by several factors. This necessitates targeted interventions aimed at raising awareness of cancer prevention and screening, while accounting for men's informational needs, preferred learning strategies, and literacy levels.

Listening to Communities: Mixed-Method Study of the Engagement of Disadvantaged Mothers and Pregnant Women With Digital Health Technologies.

BackgroundUS health care providers are increasingly demanding patient engagement with digital health technologies to enroll in care, access personal health information, communicate with providers, and monitor their own health. Such engagement may be difficult for disadvantaged populations who may have limited health literacy, time constraints, or competing priorities.ObjectiveWe aimed to understand the extent of adoption and use of digital health tools and to identify key perceived psychological motivators of technology use among disadvantaged first-time pregnant women and mothers of young children.MethodsWe recruited women from health organizations serving low-income communities in the Midwest and on the East and West coasts. A total of 92 women participated in 14 focus groups. During each session, we administered worksheets that measured 3 utilization outcomes: the number of recent Web-based health-seeking activities, current use of digital health-management practices (eg, accessing personal health information, communicating with providers, and scheduling appointments), and potential adoption of digital health-management tools among low users or nonusers. Responses to the worksheets and to a pre-focus group survey on demographics, technology access, and motivators of use were examined to create user profiles. Separate regression models identified the motivators (eHealth literacy, internal health orientation, and trust in digital information) associated with these outcomes. Qualitative data were incorporated to illustrate the worksheet responses. ResultsWhereas 97% of the participants reported that they had searched for health information on the Internet in the past year, 42% did not engage in digital health-management practices. Among the low users and nonusers, 49% expressed interest in future adoption of digital health tools. Web-based health information-seeking activities were associated with digital health-management practices (P<.001). When controlling for covariates, eHealth literacy was positively correlated with the number of Web-based health-seeking activities (beta=.03, 95% CI 0.00-0.07). However, an internal health orientation was a much stronger correlate of digital health-management practices (beta=.13, 95% CI 0.02-0.24), whereas trust in digital information increased the odds of potential adoption (vs no adoption) in adjusted models (OR 5.21, 95% CI 0.84-32.53). Demographic characteristics were not important drivers of digital health use and few differences distinguished use among mothers and pregnant women.ConclusionsSeeking health information on the Internet may be an important gateway toward engaging in digital health-management practices. Notably, different consumer motivators influence digital health tool use. The relative contributions of each must be explored to design tools and interventions that enhance competencies for the management of self and child health among disadvantaged mothers and pregnant women. Unless we address disparities in digital health tool use, benefits from their use will accrue predominantly to individuals with the resources and skills to use technology effectively.

Infant viewing of social scenes is under genetic control and is atypical in autism.

Long before infants reach, crawl, or walk, they explore the world by looking: they look to learn and to engage1, giving preferential attention to social stimuli including faces2, face-like stimuli3, and biological motion4. This capacity—social visual engagement—shapes typical infant development from birth5 and is pathognomonically impaired in children affected by autism6. Here we show that variation in viewing of social scenes—including levels of preferential attention and the timing, direction, and targeting of individual eye movements—is strongly influenced by genetic factors, with effects directly traceable to the active seeking of social information7. In a series of eye-tracking experiments conducted with 338 toddlers—including 166 epidemiologically-ascertained twins, 88 non-twins with autism, and 84 singleton controls—we find high monozygotic twin-twin concordance (0.91) and relatively low dizygotic concordance (0.35). Moreover, the measures that are most highly heritable, preferential attention to eye and mouth regions of the face, are also those that are differentially diminished in children with autism (Χ2=64.03, P<0.0001). These results—which implicate social visual engagement as a neurodevelopmental endophenotype—not only for autism, but for population-wide variation in social-information-seeking8—reveal a means of human biological niche construction, with phenotypic differences emerging from the interaction of individual genotypes with early life experience7.

Facilitating information-seeking activity in instructional videos: The combined effects of micro- and macroscaffolding

With the development of e-learning, and more specifically MOOCs, searching for information in videos is becoming a key activity in education. Many studies have focused on learning in video-based environments, but to our knowledge, they have left aside the question of search tasks. We hypothesized that information-seeking activity can be improved by adapting features of the learning environment, more particularly by providing micro- and/or macroscaffolding. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the effects of presentation during a search activity in a video-based environment. A total of 80 students were divided into four groups, then exposed to a video 1) with or without a table of contents (macroscaffolding), and 2) with or without markers in the timeline (microscaffolding). Results showed that micro- and macroscaffolding both have positive effects on search outcomes, but also that they need to be used in combination to improve search times. One possible interpretation is that, in the absence of scaffolding, users have to compensate by constructing their own mental representations of the video segmentation, which is cognitively very costly and highly time consuming.

미국 내에 거주하는 한인 어머니들의 건강정보 필요성과 탐색 행동연구

Previous studies have noted mothers' roles as active health information seekers, health managers, and caregivers for their family members. However, little is known about health information needs and seeking behaviors among Korean mothers of young children living in the United States. Using paper-based surveys, this study found that vaccination, child dental health, parenting, nutrition and diets, and physical exercise were ranked as the five most important topics by the Korean mothers of young children aged 0 to 10 years old in this sample. Furthermore, this study revealed that mothers of boys evaluated the importance of the following two topics significantly higher than those of girls: circumcision (t=3.16, p < .01) and breastfeeding (t=2.47, p < .05). Also, age of child was an important factor influencing mothers' information needs in three health topics: child dental health (F=5.292, p < .01), physical exercise (F=7.107, p < .01), and child skin care (F=5.640, p < .01). Implications for developing health information services are discussed.

Patterns of cancer-related health information seeking and receipt among Hispanic and non-Hispanic childhood cancer survivors.

197 Background: Because childhood cancer survivors (CCS) report a high number of unmet cancer-related information needs, knowing where CCS access information may provide insights into appropriate delivery systems to address information deficits. Active seeking of health information among CCS is associated with positive health behaviors, including adherence to follow-up care. This study examined patterns of cancer-related health information seeking as an indicator of health care engagement. Methods: Participants (N = 193) were young adult CCS diagnosed with any cancer type in Los Angeles County, 54% Hispanic, with a mean age of 19.87, and at least two years from treatment. CCS were asked where they accessed health information related to their cancer with 8 response options which were categorized into four information domains: hospital resources, social media, other survivors, and family members. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess correlates of each information domain, including sociodemographic information, post-traumatic growth, and health care engagement, controlling for age, ethnicity, sex, education, and health insurance status. Results: Hospital resources were the most frequently endorsed information domain (65.3%), and Hispanic CCS (vs. non-Hispanic) were more likely to access this source. Online sources were more likely accessed by female CCS. Seeking information from other cancer survivors was associated with follow-up care and post-traumatic growth after cancer. Hispanic CCS were less likely to seek information from other survivors and their family than non-Hispanics. Conclusions: While CCS obtain information from a variety of sources, hospital resources were the most commonly accessed, particularly for Hispanics. Information sharing between survivors may promote positive health care engagement; however, Hispanics may be less likely to pursue this resource. Future work should address barriers Hispanic CCS face in information sharing with other cancer survivors. [Table: see text]

Quality of life and uncertainty in Crohn's disease.

Crohn's disease impairs patients' perception of health and has a negative impact on health-related quality of life. Although it is apparent that uncertainty is a significant factor that decreases quality of life, it has never been studied in patients with Crohn's disease. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between level of certainty, self-epistemic authority, Internet information gathering habits, and health-related quality of life. A cross-sectional study of 105 Crohn's disease patients was conducted. Data were collected using a questionnaire composed of five parts: (1) demographic and clinical information; (2) health-related quality of life; (3) level of certainty; (4) self-epistemic authority; and (5) Internet information gathering habits regarding Crohn's disease. A significant positive correlation was demonstrated between levels of certainty and health-related quality of life. Self-epistemic authority correlated positively with certainty, while information gathering via the Internet was related to decreased certainty. Multiple regression analysis for factors associated with health-related quality of life showed a positive association with the level of certainty, while negative associations were found between Internet information seeking and disease activity with the quality of life. Level of certainty proved an important variable associated with health-related quality of life in Crohn's disease patients. Improving patients' self-epistemic authority can increase certainty and, thus, improve health-related quality of life.

Stress, adaptation, growth: International students' approaches to scholarly research and academic integrity

ABSTRACTInternational students often face unique challenges in adapting to higher education in the United States, and may benefit from specialized academic support. This paper and the accompanying poster outline the findings of a qualitative study exploring international graduate students' adaptation processes as evidenced by their information seeking and use activities. The study was informed by Kim's cross‐cultural adaptation theory. Semi‐structured interviews developed using critical incident technique were conducted with 30 international graduate students enrolled at three North Carolina universities. Participants described a variety of difficulties related to information seeking including finding and understanding resources, and explained how they addressed these challenges. They generally recognized the significance of American academic integrity standards, acknowledging the importance of proper citation and understanding faculty expectations. This paper explores the study findings through the lens of Kim's stress‐adaptation‐growth dynamic. Findings have practical implications for librarians, and other faculty and staff who provide support and training to international students in the United States.

Conceptual Data Visualization in Archival Finding Aids: Preliminary User Responses

This paper explores possibilities for marrying data visualization to online archival finding aids, which have continually suffered from usability issues in their long history. This paper describes a project in which two different data visualization models were built to replace sections of an archival finding aid. Users were then shown the models, and they reflected on their experiences and possible enhancements in small, informal focus groups. After situating these user responses within information-seeking activities of archival research, this paper explores potential methods of improving and expanding finding aids and archival search systems through data visualization.

Perception of risk from air pollution and reported behaviors: a cross-sectional survey study in four cities

We investigate how public perceptions of air pollution, risk beliefs and self-reported actions to limit personal exposure to ambient air pollution vary across cities. Our analysis also examines the extent to which a number of individual-level variables are associated to self-protective and information-seeking actions due to bad air quality. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey in four cities with a total sample of 1202 inhabitants. We found a moderate variation in the subjective evaluation of local air pollution between cities, as well as in the levels of annoyance and distress due to air pollution. There was relatively little variation in perceived severity, worry and self-reported actions. No variation was found for self-reported attention to air quality levels and controllability beliefs regarding the risks from air pollution. Preliminary modeling of four self-reported actions suggests that self-reported attention to air quality levels and worry are important predictors of self-protective and information seeking behavior. We conclude that both personal and contextual factors have to be taken into account in order to understand public reactions to outdoor urban air pollution. We discuss the implications in terms of risk and health communication.

The Influence of Online Search Behavior on Consumers’ Decision-Making Heuristics

ABSTRACTInformation seeking activities have been broadly categorized into two types: exploratory and directed search. Likewise, product-related information is processed either by alternative or by attribute. The current literature does not specifically describe the effect of online information-seeking activities on the type of information processing employed by a consumer. The present study seeks to investigate this relationship, as well as the effect of repeat visits to a website as an antecedent of information seeking. An eye-tracking experiment was performed to test these relationships. Results indicate that participants with a greater proportion of time spent looking at directed-search elements had longer visual sweeps across the attributes of a song, indicating a greater degree of alternative-based processing. Additionally, repeat website visits resulted in a marginally higher proportion of time spent performing directed search. The implication of the findings in relation to website customization according to users’ information searching behavior is discussed.

Factors Associated with Health Information Seeking, Processing, and Use Among HIV Positive Adults in the Dominican Republic.

Effective treatment and management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) depend on patients' ability to locate, comprehend, and apply health information. This study's purpose was to identify characteristics associated with these skills among HIV positive adults in the Dominican Republic. An information behavior survey was administered to 107 participants then three logistic regressions were conducted to identify characteristics associated with information seeking, processing, and use. Never having cared for someone who was sick was significantly associated with less information seeking, processing, and use. Males were more likely to be active information seekers and those who had attended the clinic for six or fewer years were less likely to actively seek information. Younger individuals had increased odds of higher information processing and those without comorbidities had increased odds of more information use. Results may inform researchers, organizations, and providers about how patients interact with health information in limited resource settings.

Empowering or misleading? Online health information provision challenges

Purpose Patient empowerment (PE) is a key public health policy tool globally which is seen as unproblematic, but contains a number of unwarranted assumptions and unrecognised challenges to achieving effective implementation. Further, the theoretical foundations for understanding the impact of persuasive health communications on PE are weak. The purpose of this paper is to review these factors and to highlight major areas of concern. Design/methodology/approach First, the assumptions underpinning empowerment and the implicit theoretical foundations for active health information seeking behaviours are reviewed. This is then followed by a readability analysis of internet-based material relating to two general medical conditions, four chronic medical conditions and six patient information leaflets which was conducted to explore issues relation to the provision and readability of online health information. Findings The assumptions underpinning expectations of policy makers and health organisations regarding active health information seeking are shown to be problematic, with several potential impediments to effective PE implementation, including the fact that almost all of the online material reviewed is written in language too complex for the majority of the general public to comprehend, let alone act on. Practical implications Recommendations are made for guiding information seeking and a research agenda is outlined that would aid in strengthening theoretical underpinnings, expand knowledge and thereby help inform practice and policy debate regarding how PE can be improved. Originality/value This paper contributes to understanding of the challenges of effective health communication in the digital age by highlighting the need for a greater understanding of online health information seeking and the impact of limited health literacy and numeracy.