Painting a Holistic Picture of Student Research Practices

What happens between the assigning of a research paper and the handing in of the finished project is something of a black box, and usage statistics take us only so far in understanding how students find and use sources. By conducting in-depth research interviews that require students to draw a "map" of their research process, we can shed light on their information-seeking behaviors and identify gaps in our services. This session will cover how to conduct such a study, how to work with the resulting wealth of qualitative data, and lessons learned from one instance of the process.

OUTCOMES: Learn about the value of using ethnographic "mapping" interviews to understand students' research processes and learn how to plan a similar study at your institution