Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
The present research attempted to determine the role of factors affecting information behavior of undergraduate students of Behbehan Higher Education Complex. The study also attempted to find the relationship between self-efficacy and searching library and the Internet information resources.
The research population consisted of 933 first-year to fourth-year students, among whom 300 students were selected through random stratified sampling. The research is of a descriptive (correlation) type. The information gathering tools were two questionnaires: a questionnaire designed by Waldman (2003); and the second, a researcher-made questionnaire designed on Hajinejad Shirazi’s questionnaire (2007). The validity of the questionnaires were measured through face-validity method, and their reliability by Cronbach's alpha; and were 0.78 and 0.76, respectively. To analyze the data, frequency, Pearson's coefficient, repeated analysis of variance, repeated Friedman test, and multiple analyses of variance were used.
The results revealed that there were significant differences among students as regards to information behavior variables. Students believed that "information-seeking", "information needs", information use", “barriers to access information", and "information resources" had the highest effects on their information behavior, respectively. They also ranked barriers to access information they need as: non-availability of information resources in/through the library, lack of time, and unfamiliarity with searching print information resources.
In terms of the methods by which students acquire the information they need, students ranked direct reference to internet resources, asking assistance from their friends and classmates, and then referring to and consulting with librarians, respectively. Multiple analyses of variance showed that male and female students were different in "information needs” and "barriers to access information". Further, students from different disciplines were different in "self-efficacy", "information-seeking" and "information use".
The students with different arrival years (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors) were significantly different in relation to information behavior and self-efficacy variables. Findings also showed that barriers to access information and information-seeking (from information behavior variables) had a significant correlation with self-efficacy; while, the rest did not.
In terms of self-efficacy, there was not a significant difference between males and females, although females had a higher self-efficacy than male students. The fourth-year students had the highest self-efficacy.
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