INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality 6f the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adverselyaffect reproduction. In the unlikely. event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps, Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. V·M·I University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell lnforrnanon Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. MI 48106-1346 USA 313.'761-4700 800:521-0600 Order Number 9506211 Interacting with information: Constructing personal knowledge using written text Howard, Dara Lee, Ph.D. University of Hawaii, 1994 Copyright @1994 by Howard, Dara Lee. All rights reserved. V·M·I 300N. Zeeb Rd AnnArbor,MI 48106 INTERACTING WITH INFORMATION: CONSTRUCTING PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE USING WRI'ITEN TEXT A DISSERTATION SUBMIITED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SCIENCES AUGUST 1994 By Dara Lee Howard Dissertation Committee: Carol Tenopir, Chairperson Martha E. Crosby Miles M. Jackson W. Wesley Peterson Ann M. Peters iii © Copyright 1994 by Dara Lee Howard All Rights Reserved iv Beloved mother, Jane Mannolini Vickary Gray Cherished aunt, Mary Catherine Mannolini Dopp v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS An undertaking of the size and nature of a dissertation is not done in isolation. Many friends and colleagues generously donated their time and energy to help me. Two of my committee members were particularly unstinting in their gifts. Dr. Carol Tenopir's cheerful support and insightful guidance as chairperson were freely offered and gladly received. Her encouragement often bounced me out of a low and kept me on the path of sustained effort and labor that culminated in the final document. Dr. Martha E. Crosby, with her magic touch for the right word at the right time, gave a revitalizing boost when it would do the most good. Without the unselfish support of Carol and Martha, my work would have been significantly harder, my life considerably poorer. I thank them for their willing warmhearted efforts on my behalf. Karen Maeda and Gail Morimoto of the School of Library and Information Studies deserve my heartfelt thanks and appreciation for their bountiful contributions of laughter and friendship. Their many quiet acts of kindness are carefully treasured. Dr. Herbert L. Roitblat and the members of his continuing Cognitive Science Seminar contributed inspiring hours of intellectual companionship and challenge. It is to this group, and most particularly to Dr. Roitblat and Dr. Ann M. Peters, that lowe much of my understanding of cognition and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. I will miss the camaraderie and esprit this Seminar always produced. One other was my constant champion. Max, my husband, was my staunchest advocate and my wellspring of optimism. He never fussed at vi the time the project took nor quibbled over its cost. His belief that I could do anything I set out to do proved to be an indispensable armament in my struggle to finish. His faith sustained me in the darker times and warmed me in the better. Thank you. Max. vii ABSTRACT This dissertation explores one aspect of solving information problems: the problem solver's transformation of information into personal knowledge. The primary goal of this work is to move toward describing this information problem solving interaction. Verbal and action protocols provide the data to describe the activity of personal knowledge construction as executed in the context of a student using public written literature to develop a short written text in response to an externally generated information problem. The constant comparative method of data analysis is used to uncover the categories and transformation operators that comprise the activity. A model that depicts both events and operations is presented using the framework of problem solving and schema theories. Interacting with information is placed within its encompassing environment of information problems and information problem solving. Using the simultaneous verbal reports and the action reports of the participants. the structures and operators of the problem solvers are identified and described in a frame model with three major branches. Two of the three branches represent the problem solvers' knowledge structures relating to the available information and to the problem solver's personal knowledge base. The structures in these branches were developed to show the various aspects and types of a structure that occurred in the data. The third branch represents operators which are used to bring about changes to the structures. Eleven operators were developed and eighteen knowledge structures which were related either viii to the information made available in the documents or to the problem solver's previous or developing knowledge base about the problem. The interaction of the branches is demonstrated in three extended examples drawn from the data. The interactions which were found in the verbal and action reports are discussed and are used to demonstrate the model. The interactions, depicted graphically in a display grid, show the available information the problem solvers used, the behaviors that implemented changes, and the kinds of transformations that were made. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v ABS1RACT vii LIST OF TABLES xiv LIST OF FIGURES xv CHAPTER 1. Conceptualization Of the Problem................................... 1 Overview ,....... 1 Underpinnings 2 Framework 4 Preview 5 Information Problems 5 Information Vignettes 6 General Aspects 8 What Are Problems? 9 The Structure of Problems 11 The Structure of Information Problems................................. 15 Information Problems in General 16 Initial State 16 Final State.................................................................. 16 Operators 17 Sammy Student Information Problems 17 Information Problem Solving 19 What Is Problem Solving? 21 States and Operators 21 The Problem Space 22 Search, Path and Solution 23 Information Problem Solving Framework 24 Information Problem Solving Situation 25 Identifying Particular Situational Features 25 Suchman's Situated Actions 26 Dervin's Arsenal of Situation Movement States 28 Sperber and Wilson's Contextualized Relevance 29 Information Need 31 Sources of Information Needs 31 The Gap Metaphor. 32 Taylor's Levels of Information Need 34 Visceral Need 35 Conscious Need 35 Characteristics of Information Needs 36 Information Gathering and Seeking 37 Knowledge Use 43 Constructing Knowledge -- The Crux of Information Problem Solving 44 Terms 46 x Conclusion 46 CHAJYrER 2. Related Work 48 Focus 48 Task Components 48 Reading 50 Visual Perception 50 Eye Movements and Fixations 52 Word Recognition 54 Letter versus Word as the Recognition Unit.. 55 Visual Words and Sounds 57 Immediacy and Eye-Mind Assumptions 58 Sentence Processing 61 Syntactic Analysis 63 Semantics 65 Autonomy of Syntactic and Semantic Modules 67 Summary 71 Text Comprehension 72 Use of Text-Based Factors 73 Visual Cues 73 Cohesion and Coherence 74 Use of Knowledge-Based Factors 76 Inferencing 77 Context 79 Text Comprehension Models 81 Comprehension-Integration Model 84 Just, Carpenter and Thibideau's READER Model 86 Summary 87 Attention and Memory 89 Attention 89 Automatic versus Attentive Processes 90 Selective Attention 93 Memory 94 Memory as Storage Components 94 Memory as Levels of Processing 96 Working Memory 97 Memory. Reading and Text Comprehension 99 Summary 102 Reading to Write 103 Summary 106 Conclusion 107 CHAPTER 3. Methodology 109 Introduction 109 Choices ,....... ... .... ... 110 Grounded Theory 113 Specific Choices............................................................................. 114 Task 114 xi Data Collection 117 Subjects 117 Materials................................ 117 Setting " .................. 118 Data To Be Collected 120 Simultaneous Verbal Reports 120 History- 122 Ericsson and Simon's Model of Verbalization 123 Current Concerns 123 Effect ofVerbalization 124 Completeness of Reports 125 Irrelevance of Report to Actual Thought Process 126 Action or Motor Processes 127 Evaluation of Usefulness of a Document 127 Procedure 127 Data Analysis 130 Data Preparation " 130 Preparation of the Verbal Report Transcription 130 Preparation of the Action Report Transcription... ..... 13 1 Analysis by Constant Comparison 131 Start Up 133 Use of Information Sources.............................................