Paper Info
Title
Factors affecting selection of information sources: a study of Ramkhamhaeng University Regional Campuses graduate students
Abstract
Regional students succeed in their studies when they can easily access information through convenient sources. Therefore, the researcher will investigate factors affecting regional students' selection of information sources to meet their information needs, as well as investigate these regional students' satisfaction with Ramkhamhaeng University (RU) Regional Library Services and their satisfaction with the perceived quality of information retrieved from other information sources. The researcher applies The Principle of Least Effort for this study. This principle governs and predicts the choices of these regional students' selection of information channel qualities (i.e. convenience, ease of use, familiarity, availability, accessibility, and proximity of libraries to home or work), whereas Simon's Satisficing Theory explains the selection and use of the information retrieved without considering whether the information is optimal. Furthermore, the researcher will determine to what extent information channel qualities affect how often students use information sources. This means that the most convenient, easier to use, and familiar the information channel qualities are, the most information sources will be selected and used. The researcher will gather the data with a survey method. The population is composed of approximately 3,000 graduate students who will enroll in classes in the spring of 2011 at RU Regional Campuses (RURCs). The researcher will employ a stratified random sampling technique to select a sample from the population that is divided into separate groups (strata) by geographical locations (South, North, Central, and Northeast). The total sample size of this study is 353 representatives of these graduate students. The researcher will analyze data by using the Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS) program for Windows The researcher will use both descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics consist of frequency, percentage rate, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation. The inferential statistics will be evaluated using a multiple regression method. The researcher will discuss the results from this study and compare them with previous research. The researcher expects the finding to provide practical advice to librarians to improve their services and to provide suggestions for administrators of RU's library systems for improving the information sources and the quality of information retrieved. The researcher will provide a new model of information-seeking behavior to contribute new knowledge of library services to the Thai community in the field of library and information science. This study will help stakeholders provide new technologies, such as Web portal to library services, in order to allow equal access to information of students at each RURCs.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1145/1940761.1940850
iConference 2011
Keywords
Field
DocType
information source,thailand,multiple regression,principle of least effort,information science,library service,access information,regional student,extent information channel quality,graduate student,information need,information channel quality,inferential statistic,simon's satisficing theory,ramkhamhaeng university,ramkhamhaeng university regional campuses,ease of use,quality of information,stratified random sampling,survey methods,arithmetic mean,information retrieval,library and information science,standard deviation,sample size
Library classification,Data science,Descriptive statistics,Population,Information needs,Principle of least effort,Computer science,Information seeking,Mathematics education,Survey methodology,Information quality
Conference
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
0
0.34
0
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Peemasak Angchun100.34
Philip Turner200.34
Lin Lin3111.66
Daniel Alemneh400.34