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Dissertation Information for Audrey Laplante

NAME:
- Audrey Laplante

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- McGill University (Canada) (2009)

ADVISORS:
- John Edgar Leide

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Jamshid Beheshti
- France Bouthillier
- J. Stephen Downie
- Glenn Cartwright

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Everyday life music information-seeking behaviour of young adults: An exploratory study

Abstract: The aim of this qualitative research was to contribute to a richer understanding of the everyday life music information-seeking behaviour of young adults. The objectives were (1) to uncover the strategies and sources young adults use to discover new music artists or genres, (2) to understand what motivates young adults to engage in information-seeking activities, and (3) to explore what clues young adults look for in music items to make inferences about the relevance or utility of these items.

Fifteen young adults (18 to 29 years old) of the French-speaking Montreal Metropolitan community participated in this study. The data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews. Drawing on the research on shopping behaviour and music behaviour, Wilson's 1996 model of information behaviour has been revised and used to guide data collection and analysis. The data were analyzed inductively, using the constant comparative method.

The analysis revealed that the participants had a strong penchant for informal channels (i.e., friends, colleagues, relatives) and low trust of experts (i.e., librarians, reviewers, music store staff). It also emerged that music discoveries were often the result of passive behaviour. When music was actively sought, it was rarely a goal-oriented activity. Indeed, it was mostly the pleasure they took in the activity itself--the hedonic outcome--that motivated them to look for music rather than an actual information need. Related to that, browsing, which is best suited for non-goal oriented information seeking, was a very common strategy among participants.

The study also revealed that rich metadata, such as bibliographic information, associative metadata, recommendations, and reviews, were highly valued by the participants. In addition to allowing people to browse music in different ways, these metadata represent valuable information that is used to make inferences about the type of experience a music item proposes. Participants also reported gathering this information to increase their knowledge of music and music artists. This increased knowledge was sometimes used to enrich their listening experience or help them make better relevance judgments in the future.

MPACT Scores for Audrey Laplante

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2014-03-10 23:01:31

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