[Asis-l] Invitation to participate in a Delphi study related to research on online searching behavior

[wildem at ils.unc.edu]

In Fall 2002, the Special Interest Group on Information Needs, Seeking, and 
Use (SIG USE) of the American Society for Information Science and 
Technology (ASIST) sponsored a symposium on “Measuring Search Behaviors.” 
In the final discussions of that day, a desire was expressed for some 
follow-up; we’d like to invite you to be a part of that follow-up effort.

Over the next six months (between now and the end of 2004), we will be 
conducting a Delphi study, and you are invited to participate in it.  It 
will focus on the variables that should be included in studies of online 
searching behaviors.  While the focus is limited to online searching 
behaviors, multiple facets related to the area will be included, such as 
variables related to the person/user (demographic variables, the user’s 
understanding/knowledge, and psychological/personality variables) and 
variables related to the search process (search topics/tasks, search 
behaviors, and search outcomes).  If your own research interests focus in 
ANY of these areas, we hope you will participate in this study.

Delphi studies in general involve responding to multiple iterations of a 
questionnaire, rating the importance of particular topics of interest.  In 
each iteration, the aggregated results of the previous round are reported 
to the participants, in an attempt to establish a consensus.  In the 
planned study, the first questionnaire will be based on notes from the 
discussion at the 2002 symposium, regarding the variables that should be 
included in studies of online searching and information retrieval system 
use.  You will be asked to rate the importance of each variable; you also 
may suggest additional variables to be added for the next round.  In the 
second round, you will receive the aggregated results from the first round 
and will be asked to re-rate the variables.  In addition, you will be asked 
to suggest measures for each variable that you consider important.  This 
iterative process will continue for three or four rounds, depending on how 
quickly consensus is reached.  Each questionnaire (i.e., each 
round/iteration) will require approximately an hour of your time; thus, you 
are being asked to spend about 4 hours on this process over the next six 
months.

Please let us know if you are willing to participate in this study.  If you 
are willing, we will send you an informed consent form for your signature. 
The first round of the study will begin on July 19, so we need to have your 
consent prior to that date.

Please contact us if you have any questions about the study.  We look 
forward to working with you on setting priorities for studies of online 
searching and information retrieval system use.

Sincerely,


Barbara and Carol
----------
Barbara M. Wildemuth	
School of Information and Library Science	
University of North Carolina	
100 Manning Hall, CB #3360, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360	
919-962-8072; wildem at ils.unc.edu	

Carol L. Barry
School of Library and Information Science
Louisiana State University
270 Coates Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
225-578-1468; lsbary at lsu.edu