The document summarizes Shelley Blundell's dissertation which examined the academic information search process (AISP) of undergraduate students enrolled in a remedial English course. Blundell found that the AISP experience is influenced by internal elements like confidence, emotions, and process, external elements like prior experiences and assistance, and ecological factors outside the course. Blundell concluded that AISP is interconnected and contextual information literacy instruction is needed that collaborates across instructors, librarians, and other resources to support remedial students' academic success.

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Blundell’s dissertation explains and describes the academic information search process (AISP)
experience of a group of undergraduate students enrolled in a remedial English course at a four-year, state
university in Ohio in the spring of 2014. Blundell studied the remedial undergraduate students’ (RUS)
AISP experience because previous library and information science (LIS) research has found that a) a sound
AISP is evidence of a person’s strong information literacy skills, and b) information literacy skills - or lack
thereof - are “intertwined” (Salisbury & Karasmanis, 2011, p. 43) with learning in general. Given the lack
of LIS or higher education literature examining RUS information literacy skills and similarly, the lack of
evidence of information literacy instruction that enhances the academic progress of RUS as a whole,
Blundell’s dissertation research contributes to this significant gap in LIS and higher education literature.
RUS account for approximately 25-40% of all incoming U.S. undergraduate students and have a much
higher rate of course failure and institutional attrition than their college-ready peers (Bailey et al., 2013;
Hamilton, 2013; Sparks & Malkus, 2013). Blundell believed that knowing more about the AISP experience
of RUS would allow her to more succinctly evaluate their information literacy skills – or lack thereof – and
consequently provide recommendations for targeted, needs-based information literacy instruction for these
students. Blundell supports that such instruction will strengthen the information literacy skills of RUS and
concomitantly, improve their academic progress and overall persistence to graduation rates.
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
THEORETICAL MODEL OF THE AISP OF THE MILLENNIAL U.G. STUDENT
RESEARCH QUESTION:
How do the study’s participants (traditional undergraduate students enrolled in a remedial English class)
explain and describe their academic information search process (AISP) experience:
– During the process, and
– Once the process has concluded and the final product (i.e. the academic research assignment)
has been submitted for a grade?
RESEARCH QUESTION AND STUDY METHODOLOGY/METHODS FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS
AND TARGETED INFORMATION LITERACY (IL) INSTRUCTION
FINDINGS:
1. The AISP experience is affected directly by internal elements related to the experience:
Reported confidence in AISP skills/abilities, feelings/emotions related to the AISP experience, how
the AISP is conducted/implemented, and impressions of conducting the AISP (simple/easy vs.
difficult/challenging).
2. The AISP experience is impacted indirectly by external elements related to the experience:
Previous AISP experiences, the role of instructor assistance in the AISP experience, and the role of
outside-class support in the AISP experience.
3. The AISP experience is influenced by ecological factors outside of the immediate experience:
General perspectives on course instruction, feelings/emotions related to the course overall, and
previous course/college experiences.
In comparing the theoretical model from Panel 1 to this exhaustive description of the AISP experience
of study participants presented above, the main similarity is the influence of emotion on the AISP
experience as a whole. However, the primary difference is that although the theoretical model shows the
AISP experience occurring in stages, findings from this study show the AISP experience of participants as
being interconnected parts of a whole, with each ‘theme’ having the ability to reshape, restructure, and
positively or negatively affect the experience as a whole.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Participants exhibited a heightened sense of ‘academic hopelessness’ throughout the study, which
unduly affected their self-perceived chance of success in higher education beyond this course.
2. Even if participants did not feel the resources they consulted for assistance were helpful, the simple
fact that the resources were available was enough to encourage continued usage of these resources.
3. Ecological factors (i.e. factors outside the course) played as much of a role in participants’AISP
experience as elements within the course itself. Therefore, collaboration between instructors and
external resources is instrumental in ensuring remedial undergraduate students’ academic success.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITONERS AND TARGETED IL INSTRUCTION:
1. IL instruction must be created via collaborations between remedial instructors, librarians, and other
academic resources, and should be contextual, relating IL skills training to course outcomes.
2. Remedial educator collaborators should consider creating and implementing self-guided, multi-modal
IL instruction within remedial courses, which promotes autonomy and allows for self-paced learning.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Blair, D. C. (1990). Language and representation in information retrieval. New York, NY: Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc.
Boon, S., Johnston, B., & Webber, S. (2007). A phenomenographic study of English faculty’s conceptions of information literacy. Journal of Documentation, 63, 204-228
Breland, K., & Breland, M. (1961). The misbehavior of organisms. American Psychologist, 16, 681-684.
Buglear, J. (2009). Logging in and dropping out: Exploring student non-completion in higher education using electronic footprint analysis. Journal of Further and Higher Ed., 33, 381-393.
Colaizzi, P. F. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. S. Valle & M. King (Eds.), Existential phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48-71).
New York, NY: Plenum.
Colaizzi, P. F. (1973). Reflection and research in psychology: A phenomenological study of learning. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Di Tommaso, K. (2012). Developmental students: The challenge of peer relationships. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 36, 941-954.
Fields, V. S., & Holland, G. (1998, Nov. 4). Outcomes of students enrolled in developmental education courses. Conference paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South
Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.
Giorgi, A. (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Husserlian approach. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Giorgi, A. (1997). The theory, practice, and evaluation of the phenomenological method as a qualitative research procedure. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 28, 235-260.
Kuhlthau, C. (1991). Inside the search process: Information seeking from the user’s perspective. Journal of the American Society for Info. Science, 42, 361-371.
Salisbury, F., & Karasmanis, S. (2011). Are they ready? Exploring student information literacy skills in the transition from secondary to tertiary education. Australian Academic & Research
Libraries, 42, 43-58.
Williamson, K. (2005). Ecological theory of human information behavior. In K. E. Fisher, S. Erdelez, & L. E. F. McKechnie (Eds.), Theories of Information Behavior (pp. 128-132).
Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.
Wilson, P. (1983). Second-hand knowledge: An inquiry into cognitive authority. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Wilson, P. (1977). Public knowledge, private ignorance: Toward a library and information policy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Wilson, T. D. (1999). Models in information behaviour research. Journal of Documentation, 55, 249-270.
Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. London, Ontario: State University of New York Press.
AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION
blundell.shelley@gmail.com www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyblundell
Permanent link to dissertation: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1429452955
Shelley Blundell, Ph.D.
Kent State University – College of Communication and Information
A descriptive phenomenological investigation of the academic information search process experience of remedial undergraduate students.
EMERGENTTHEMES
1. The AISP experience is affected directly by internal elements related to the experience.
2. The AISP experience is impacted indirectly by external elements related to the experience.
3. The AISP experience is influenced by ecological factors outside of the immediate experience.
The dearth of LIS and higher education literature Blundell reviewed for her dissertation are represented in
this model, created by Blundell as a high-level summary of the research currently available that examines
the typical AISP experience of college-ready U.S. undergraduate students.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Blair’s (1990) “Point of Futility” and (Patrick) Wilson’s (1983; 1977) Personal Information Systems and
Cognitive Authority theories.*
Breland & Breland’s (1961) “Instinctive Drift” theory.**
Kuhlthau’s (1991) “Information Search Process” model.***
Williamson’s (2005) Ecological Theory of Human Information Behavior.****
(T. D.) Wilson’s (1999) Models of Information Behavior.*****
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METHODOLOGY/METHODS:
Descriptive phenomenological methodology, as discussed by Colaizzi (1978) and Giorgi (2009; 1997),
was used as the methodological frame for Blundell’s dissertation study. This methodology seeks to
uncover the universal ‘essence’ of the investigated phenomenon by gathering data via a triangulation of
methods, and parsing out the common threads, or themes, extant within the participants’ experience.
Methods used to collect data from study participants were qualitative, and included bracketing/bias-
limiting notation throughout the study, interviews with participants, participation observation during class
periods and during lab AISP sessions, and cursory review of participants’ ungraded final assignments.
Methods used to analyze data included continuing the bracketing/bias-limiting notation used during the
study and seven specific data analysis actions, including the reading and rereading of participant profiles
(compiled from interviews and participant observations), the extraction of significant statements from said
profiles, formulating meanings from the statements, and identifying thematic clusters within. This result
of this analysis was the creation of an exhaustive description of the universal essence of the AISP
experience, and a thematic representation of study findings model of the participants’ experience (textually
described under the “Findings” section).
PARTICIPANTS AND EMERGENT THEMES IN THE STUDY
Gender
Secondsemester
at Midstate(regional)
Intendsto transitionto
main campus of Midstate
Failed this coursein the
previoussemester
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If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. – Ignacio Estrada