Chapter 7: Summary, conclusion, and recommendations
2.5 Literature review of Wilson’s (1999) model
37
Figure 2.4: Wilson's Information Behaviour Model (Source: Wilson, 1999:251)
38
argued by Kumar (2011:38) to review a specific model to be used for a research study systematically.
Wilson (2005:31) asserts that the development of his general models of information behaviour in 1981 and 1999 as well as his model with Walsh (Wilson and Walsh, 1996) has taken a noteworthy period of time. Case (2012:135) considers Wilson’s (1999) model to be one of the most general models of information seeking behaviour that are empirically used in information behaviour research. Clearly, Wilson’s (1999) model primarily refers to ‘systems, sources, and people’ as sources and this makes it more of a general model (Case, 2012:157). It therefore “seems likely that the model will continue to evolve as more and more researchers use it as a basis for thinking about the problems of human information behaviour” (Wilson 2005:36).
Lowe and Eisenberg (2005:63) opine that Wilson's (1999) model is one of the popular skills models for information problem solving. For example, Makri, Blandford and Cox (2008:3) used Wilson's model in reviewing the information seeking models throughout different studies of information behaviour in terms of problem-solving activity. Many key authors such as Belkin, Borgman, Choo, Cole, Dervin, Ellis, Erdelez, Fidel, Ford, Ingwersen, Kuhlthau, Nilan, Pettigrew, Savolainen, Sonnenwald, Spink, Vakkari, and Wersig have also referred and/or used Wilson's model in their works (Wilson 2005:35).
Wilson's (1999) model sees information needs as the foundation of information seeking behaviour;
hence there should be a sense of need in order to seek information. Case (2007:136) asserts that stress/coping theories depicts possible explanation for why some needs prompt information seeking more than others. Weigts et al. (1993) present various types of human needs to include need for new information; need to elucidate the information held; need to confirm information held; need to elucidate beliefs and values held; and the need to confirm beliefs and values held.
Wilson (2006:663) in this case outlines examples of such basic human needs which include need for food, domination, and to learn a skill. According to Case (2012:5), an information need attests to the “recognition that your knowledge is inadequate to satisfy a certain goal that you have”.
39
Wilson's (1999) model again explains why some resources are used more than others and the reason for people's ability and inability to pursue a goal successfully based on the perceptions of their own efficacy. The concept of "self-efficacy" as expressed by Case (2007:136) is a possible explanation why some people could or could not pursue a goal successfully in accordance with the perceptions of their own efficacy. Bandura (2000) therefore believes that self-efficacy is critical in knowledge and skill acquisition as well as goal accomplishment.
Wilson (1999) in his model presents “activating mechanisms” as motivators which impact on how a person searches for information. Case (2002:119) maintained that these activating mechanisms are linked with five key intervening variables:
• demographic background;
• environmental variables;
• characteristics of the sources;
• psychological predispositions; and
• one’s social role.
Wilson’s model (1999) also includes potential barriers to information seeking: psychological, demographic, interpersonal, environmental, and information source barriers (Wilson, 1997).
During the information seeking process, the information seeker tends to meet with barriers of different kinds and these barriers include personal, interpersonal, and environmental barriers (Wilson, 1999:252). Studies have also established a negative relationship between these barriers and information seeking. For example, Pettigrew, Durrance and Unruh (2002) have cited economic and geographic factors (such as lack of money and infrastructure) as barriers to information seeking.
According to Case (2002:115-116), Ellis’s (1989) model of information seeking behaviour and Kuhlthau’s (1991) model of searching processes are universally applicable to any domain. Wilson (1999) also concluded therefore that, Ellis`s (1989) search features (model) and Kuhlthau`s (1988) Information Search Process can be related easily to Wilson`s active search mode of information seeking behaviour. Particularly, the information encountering often contributes to the passive
40
search mode (Ross, 1999:783) and Wilson’s (1999) model therefore incorporates both ‘active and passive search’ modes. Erdlez (2005:34-35) on his part notes that Wilson’s model embraces Ellis’s (1989) model in relation to behaviour characteristics of an information user/seeker in terms of information seeking behaviour and information searching processes, especially within the ‘active search’ mode.
Wilson regards Ellis`s (1989), Kuhlthau (1988) and his own models (1981 and 1996) as information behaviour models since they are all concerned with generalised behaviours surrounding the initiation of information seeking and, with a broader perspective of the information search than simply the use of computer based information retrieval systems (Wilson, 1999:258). Wilson’s model does not incorporate the fixed hierarchy of the steps/stages in Ellis' model throughout the information seeking process, although, Wilson’s (1999) model considers the important contribution of Ellis (1989) and Kuhlthau (1991) models within the information behaviour sub-fields. Moreover, Dervin’s sense-making theory's general model feature (Ingwersen and Järvelin 2005:62) and information-seeking model feature (Wai-yi and Dervin 1999:4) as shown by Wilson (1999) explain how Dervin’s work relates with Wilson’s (1999) general model.
Nevertheless, Knight and Spink (208:212) argued that Wilson’s (1999) model lacks a clear description of how users interact with an information retrieval system “in order to find and retrieve the data” they seek. They further explained that Wilson simply labeling an attribute of his model
“as ‘information seeking behavior’ needed to be defined and explored”. As observed by McKenzie (2003:37), Wilson’s (1999) model “represents successive searches for information on a single problem, but they do not account for the wide variety of information practices” like environmental scanning, chance encounter lay referrals and others that exist in users’ accounts of ELIS. These limitations however, did not affect the use of the model for this study since the current study was not focused on ELIS.
According to Godbold (2006:np), sequential progression of information behaviour as depicted in Wilson’s (1999) model is not always the case when users are seeking information since “the order of information seeking tasks may be reversed or convoluted, and includes dead-ends, changes of direction, iteration, abandonment and beginning again”. This study did not follow strictly the
41
sequential progression as depicted in the model. The study however, applied appropriate attributes of the model that matches the objectives of the study.