Dissertation Information for Aman Salem Abdullah NAME: - Aman Salem Abdullah
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- Florida State University (USA) (2000)
ADVISORS: - F. William Summers
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Thomas L. Hart - Hollie Thomas - Lixin Yu
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Factors affecting international students use of the online catalog and other information sources
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine search behavior of international graduate students. Students' preference among academically oriented information sources and their current utilization of the online catalog were explored. The relationship between students' search behavior and selected variables was also explored to explain what factors influence students' search behavior. The independent variables included: age, gender, stage of study, field of study, region of origin, length of study in the United States, computer experience, English language proficiency, and cultural proximity to the dominant culture in the United States.
A random sample of 300 international graduate students of the Florida State University was selected for the study. The non-pragmatics chi-square was used to determine the relationship. The Phi coefficient and Cramer's V were used to determine the strength of the relationship.
Results indicate that international graduate students prefer the impersonal information sources. The online catalog, references and the Internet were the most frequently used information sources. Specialized databases, however, were used by only half of the population. The availability of the source, quality of the data and ease of use were identified as important factors affecting students' selection of information sources.
Students' use of the online catalog was modest. They tend to search the keyword file for their unknown item searches, and search the author file for their known-item searches. They search the catalog unsystematically, using what they think of at the time. They rarely used LCSH even when they search the subject heading file. They underutilized the advance features beyond the Boolean operators. They tend to search WebLUIS using the basic option. They preferred to learn the system through personal exploration. They preferred to learn and search the online catalog using the English language even if they had the choice to use their native languages.
Results also indicate that significant relationship existed between gender, stage of study, field of study, region of origin, length of stay in the United States, computer experience, English language proficiency and students' search behavior. The relationships were generally weak to relatively moderate. No relationships were found between students' age, GRE scores, cultural proximity and any of the 25 dependent variables examined in the study.
It was concluded that barriers to international graduate students' search behavior such as computer experience, English language proficiency and cultural proximity had minimum affect on their use of the online catalog and other information sources. Other factors related to the context of the information-seeking behavior like gender, stage of study and field of study were more influential.
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MPACT Scores for Aman Salem Abdullah A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:05:36
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