Chapter 7: Summary, conclusion, and recommendations
2.9 Literature review of Ellis' (1989) model
Ellis (2009:140) considers this model to be among the most cited models in the literature of information seeking behaviour which has been successfully applied to investigate the information seeking behaviour of individuals with different roles and tasks in many disciplines, although, the model doesn’t address the “influence of cognitive nor affective factors” on the information behaviour of individuals. The strength of this model as opined by Katsirikou and Skiadas (2011) is that it can be used in multiple knowledge fields and among all user groups. The success of the model is due to the extensive empirical research during the development phases of the model (Wilson, 1999). Turnbull (2005:397) is also of the view that Ellis' (1989) model has provided a strong foundation for the development of other information behaviour models such as Choo’s (1998) model of information-seeking.
According to Ellis (1989:178):
The detailed interrelation or interaction of the features in any individual information seeking pattern will depend on the unique circumstances of the information seeking activities of the person concerned at that particular point in time.
The model is therefore intended to describe the information-seeking activities of individuals.
Clearly, Ellis’s (1989) model “appears to sit between the micro-analysis of search behaviour (starting, chaining, extracting, verifying, ending) and a more macro-analysis of information behaviour generally (browsing, monitoring, differentiating)” (Wilson, 1999;255). Ingwersen and Järvelin (2005) maintained that Ellis’s behavioural model falls within three fundamental interrelated characteristics at the same time:
• Process model
• Summary model
• General model
47
It is important to note that there is no claim by Ellis to the effect that the different behaviours constitute a single set of stages but it is clear from Ellis’s (1999) model “that ‘starting’ must initiate a process and that ‘ending’ must end it” (Wilson, 1999:254). Ellis, Cox and Hall (1993:359) assert that 'starting' feature includes “activities characteristic of the initial search for information”. To elaborate on this definition, Ellis and Haugan (1997:395) indicate that 'starting' is “characteristic of the initial search for information to obtain an overview of the literature within a new subject field or to locate key people operating in this field”.
Wilson (1999:254) again noted that it “seems reasonable to suggest that ‘verifying’ is a penultimate stage in a process and that ‘extracting’ must follow on from specific search behaviour such as
‘browsing’”. Choo (1999) then considers differentiating, monitoring and extracting as information seeking activities in the information search mode. Meho and Tibbo (2003:570-571) on their part consider only six generic features from Ellis’s (1989) model: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. They therefore see “verifying” and “ending” as extra features. To corroborate, “verifying” and “ending” according to Ellis, Cox and Hall, (1993:364- 365) were additional activities identified after the initial framework had been described. They went on to define “verifying” feature as checking the information and sources found for accuracy and errors, whereas the “ending” feature reflects searching for pieces of information to bridge knowledge-gaps.
Wilson (1999:254) concludes, “‘extracting’ is not information behaviour of the same kind as
‘browsing’, or ‘chaining’ or ‘monitoring’”. He goes on to suggest that ‘differentiating’ is a filtering process, while “browsing, chaining and monitoring are search procedures”. Extracting also may be regarded as a performed action on information sources. The model’s features or components can interact in various ways in different information-seeking patterns and therefore does not represent a set of stages or phases that any or all researchers constantly follow when seeking information (Ellis, 2005).
According to Ingwersen and Järvelin (2005), the features of Ellis’s model do not provide any design specifications directly for interactive systems, but the model’s features provide activities that information seekers and users might be required to accomplish through use of the systems.
48
Ellis’s (1989) model is not presented as a diagrammatic model, however, Wilson (1999:254) has proposed a diagrammatic presentation of Ellis’s (1989) model in Figure 2.5 below to show that Wilson and Ellis’s models “are intended to function at different levels of the overall process of information seeking and this fact is demonstrated by the ability to nest one within the other”.
Figure 2.5: A Process Model Based on Ellis' Characteristics (Source: Wilson, 1999:255)
Literature of other studies has used different terminologies for some features in Ellis's model. For example, Ellis and Haguan (1997) used “surveying” in place of the term “starting” and also identified the activities of “distinguishing” and “filtering” instead of “differentiating” when studying information behaviour of oil company engineers and scientists. They maintain that distinguishing involves “ranking information sources according to their relative importance based on own perceptions”; and filtering is the “use of certain criteria or mechanisms when searching for information to make the information as relevant and as precise as possible (Ellis and Haguan, 1997:399)”. Both of them can therefore be seen as more specialised differentiating behaviours.
Adeyinka (2016:215) opined that the weakness of Ellis’s (1981) model “remains its almost one- dimentional approach to the concept of the contextual variables of the observed information seeking behaviours”. He further noted that Ellis “placed a heavy emphasis on the electronic systems environment context being sought”. However, this was not a limitation to the current study since the emphasis of the study is on the electronic environment (Internet). A limitation of the model as noted by Robson and Robinson (2013:172) is that Ellis’s (1981) model “does not consider the user’s information needs or the context in which the needs arise”. The current study overcame this limitation through the use of Wilson’s (1999) model’s attribute of ‘Information need’.
49 2.10 Other studies based on Ellis' (1989) model
Ellis’s (1989) model has been used and also reviewed positively by researchers within the field of Library and Information Science (LIS). For example, Ellis, Cox and Hall (1993) used it to investigate the information behaviour within the physical sciences as well as engineers. The model has also been applied on research scientists by Ellis and Haugan (1997). Spink et al. (2002) also reviewed the model in relation to successive searching.
Robson (2013) also applied Ellis’s (1989) model for the study “modelling information behaviour:
linking information seeking and communication”. Ford et al. (2002) have also reviewed this model in relation to cognitive styles in information seeking. Makri, Blandford and Cox (2008) also applied this model when investigating the information-seeking behaviour of academic lawyers. Wilson et al. (2002:704) has also reviewed this model in relation to uncertainty and its correlates and the study concludes that:
The problem-solving model is recognised by such researchers as describing their activities and that the uncertainty concept, operationalised as here, serves as a useful variable in understanding information-seeking behaviour.
Sutton (1994), when examining “the role of attorney mental models of law in case relevance determinations: an exploratory analysis”, applied Ellis’s model as a theoretical lens for analysis.
Elwani (2016) also applied this model for his study on “the information behaviour of individual investors in Saudi Arabia”.
Meho and Tibbo (2003) also on their part reviewed Ellis’s (1989) model on social scientists with the aim of finding out if the findings of the model were still applicable at the time where electronic information seeking has become more popular. A significant finding of their study was the inclusion of information managing feature which involves “filing, archiving, and organising information collected or used in facilitating their research” (Meho and Tibbo, 2003:582). The empirical and experimental base of Ellis’s (1989) model can be said to have influenced research in information behaviour (Katsirikou and Skiadas, 2011).
50