Everyday Life Music Information-Seeking Behaviour of Young Adults: an Exploratory Study
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Everyday Life Music Information-Seeking Behaviour of Young Adults: An Exploratory Study A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Audrey Laplante School of Information Studies Faculty of Education McGill University Montréal, Québec Octobre 2008 © Audrey Laplante, 2008 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 ii 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. iii Résumé Le but de cette recherche qualitative est de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension du comportement dans la recherche de musique des jeunes adultes dans la vie de tous les jours. Les objectifs étaient de comprendre (1) les stratégies et les sources que les jeunes adultes utilisent pour découvrir de nouvelles musiques; (2) ce qui les motive à entreprendre des recherches afin de découvrir de nouvelles musiques; et (3) la façon dont ils s’y prennent pour évaluer la pertinence ou l’utilité d’enregistrements musicaux. Quinze jeunes adultes (âgés entre 18 et 29 ans) francophones de la région du Montréal métropolitain ont participé à cette étude. Les données ont été collectées au moyen d’entretiens semi‐structurés en profondeur. En s’appuyant sur la recherche sur les habitudes de magasinage et sur le comportement musical, le modèle de comportement informationnel développé par Wilson en 1996 a été modifié. C’est ce modèle qui a guidé la collecte et l’analyse des données. Les données ont été analysées de façon inductive, en utilisant la méthode d’analyse par comparaison constante. L’analyse a montré que les participants avaient une préférence marquée pour les sources d’information informelles (amis, collègues, famille) et une confiance limitée envers les experts (bibliothécaires, critiques, disquaires). Il est également iv apparu que leurs découvertes musicales étaient souvent le résultat d’un comportement passif. De plus, quand ils recherchaient activement de la musique, il s’agissait rarement d’une activité orientée vers un but précis. En effet, il s’est avéré que c’était davantage le plaisir qu’ils prenaient dans l’activité – le résultat hédonique – qui les motivait à entreprendre des recherches plutôt qu’un véritable besoin d’information. De la même façon, le bouquinage, qui constitue une méthode particulièrement appropriée pour rechercher de l’information sans but précis, était très populaire chez les participants. L’étude a également révélé que les participants accordaient une grande valeur aux métadonnées riches telles que les informations bibliographiques, métadonnées associées, recommandations et critiques. En plus de leur permettre de parcourir des collections musicales de différentes façons, ces métadonnées représentent de l’information utile lorsque vient le temps de déterminer le type d’expérience qu’offre un enregistrement musical. Les participants ont aussi rapporté collecter cette information dans le but d’augmenter leurs connaissances sur la musique et les artistes. Ces connaissances pouvaient ensuite être utilisées pour enrichir leur expérience d’écoute ou encore pour les aider à poser des jugements de pertinence plus éclairés. v Acknowledgements I wish to begin my acknowledgements by thanking all the participants of this study who so generously gave their time, opened themselves to me, and did their best to answer questions on matters they had not thought about before and believed they would never have to think about! Not only did they make this study possible, they made it pleasurable as each interview was like having a good conversation with an old friend. I want to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor John Leide, who provided insightful comments and demonstrated patience and compassion throughout the years. I am also indebted to the other members of my research committee: Professor Jamshid Beheshti who, with his rigour and his attention to details, made a significant contribution to my study; Professor France Bouthillier, whose intellectual guidance and moral support was highly appreciated; Professor Glenn Cartwright, who so attentively read my thesis to patiently explain me some really basic grammatical rules; and Professor J. Stephen Downie, who initially inspired the topic of this thesis and who, from a corn field in Illinois, offered constructive and always relevant comments. I also wish to thank Professor Catherine Guastavino, who helped me with my interview schedule, and Professor Joan Bartlett, who helped me detangle the web of conceptual models of information behaviour. Thanks to Kathryn vi Hubbard, Ancy Joseph, and Susann Allnutt for helping the often absent‐minded student I was. I want to express thanks to my fellow students, especially Leanne Bowler, Valery Nesset, and Erica Wiseman, who were always supportive and who, with their friendship, greatly enriched my experience as a doctoral student. My friends and family have been an invaluable source of support and encouragement throughout the course of this long project. I am particularly grateful to my sister Annissa, my father René and his wonderful wife Lucette, and my best friend Annie, who were always there to listen to my complains and cheer me up when needed. Acknowledgements are also due to the following sources of funding which allowed me to concentrate on my doctoral research and disseminate my findings: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Concordia Libraries, McGill University’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and McGill’s School of Information Studies. My final words go to Thomas, without whom I would never have had the strength to bring this thesis to completion. Your unconditional love and support and your almost unlimited patience were a constant comfort during this lengthy process. You spent numerous hours taking care of our son, Manech, and several nights reading and editing my work. I dedicate this dissertation to you and to Manech, who is looking forward to seeing my thesis being used as a booster seat... vii Table of Content ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ II RÉSUMÉ ................................................................................................................................. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... VI TABLE OF CONTENT .............................................................................................................. VIII LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... XI LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... XII 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................ 1 1.2. FOCUS OF INQUIRY ............................................................................................................. 5 1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................................................ 6 1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT .............................................................................................