Running head: YOUNG ADULT STAIR-STEP MODEL
Young Adult Stair-Step Model for the Information Search Process
Elizabeth Tarski and Emily Jennings
Emporia State University
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The information search process of young adults is a topic of great interest. Young
adults, defined by the Young Adult Library Service Association as a person between the
ages of 12 and 18, are in a formative stage of life and are both striving for independence
and trying to figure out how the world works and where they belong in it. The young
adult model this paper discusses takes into consideration the mental state of this
population as well as the reality of the tools they have to work with.
Young Adults and the Stair-Step Model
Rationale
It is important to realize that the brain development of this segment of our
community is different than both the children they just were and the adults they will
become. When trying to figure out young adults, it is key to keep in mind that every adult
in the world has, at one point, been a young adult, but no teenager has been an adult.
By adolescence, individuals have matured beyond the frailties of childhood, but
have not yet begun any of the declines of adult aging…Yet despite these robust
maturational improvements in several domains, overall morbidity and mortality
rates increase 200% over the same interval of time…the major sources of death
and disability in adolescence are related to difficulties in the control of behavior
and emotion (Dahl, 2004, p. 3).
Young adults deal with a different emotional and behavioral state then either adults or
children, and this is due, in large part, to perfectly normal brain development.
Other research on the brain of young adults have yielded the following
conclusions:
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The reason adults act adult-like is because they process information and make
decisions with the prefrontal cortex. Residing just behind the forehead, that part of
the brain acts as its CEO and is responsible for planning, organization, complex
thinking, and impulse control. In contrast, teens' prefrontal cortexes are still
immature. As a result, they're more apt to process information and make decisions
with the amygdala, a small, almond-shaped structure at the back of the brain,
which is the home of impulsive, emotional, and instinctual behavior. As the
prefrontal cortex matures, teens will reason better—but that's a slow process
(Jones, 2005, p. 37).
The Stair-step Model
Figure 1: The Stair-Step Model for young adults in the information search process.
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The developmental process and the mental state of young adults helped us
develop our young adult information search model (see Figure 1). The Stair-Step Model
allows for upward and downward movement that is dependant on the motivational factors
at the bottom of the model. Motivation propels young adults along getting them up the
steps of the model to the information they need.
The model was constructed based on class reading, research, an informal survey
of 76 young adults aged 14 to 18, and several ISP paradigms and theories (see Figure 2).
Theory/Study
Part(s) of Model Supported
Cost-Benefit Paradigm
Informal Mediator
Giedd's Long-Term Adolescent
Brain study
Formal Mediator
Kuhlthau's Case Studies
Informal Mediator
Formal Mediator
Mood Management Theory
Web Sources
Play Theory
Motivational Factors
Principle of Least Effort
Web Sources
Informal Mediator
Uncertainty Principle
Motivational Factors
Uses and Gratifications Approach
Web Sources
Figure 2: The theories and case studies used to support the Stair-Step Model.
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Informal Survey
We designed a survey that was randomly handed out to students at a small high
school in northeast Kansas. We received 76 responses. The survey consisted of 15
questions, 14 of which were written to elicit a yes or no response. The first question
asked the young adults to rate the sources they use in the order they use them. They had
six options: the Internet, family and friends, the librarian, a teacher, print sources, and
databases. A “1” indicated the student uses that source first so the lower the number in
the results, the more frequently that source is used first. For the rest of the questions, the
young adults were given the option to respond “Y” for yes, “N” for no, “S” for
sometimes, and “U” for don’t understand or doesn’t apply. All yes answers were assigned
a 1, all no answers were assigned a 2, all sometimes answers were assigned a 3, and all
don’t understand answers were assigned a 4. A lower number means that students were
more apt to agree with the statement, such as: I only do research when I have an
assignment. (See Appendix A for a sample of the survey used and Appendix B for the
survey results.)
Deconstructing the Model
Motivational Factors
The model starts with the motivational factors, which provides the momentum for
young adults, leading them up the steps of the search process.
Required.
The first place young adults find motivation is with requirement. Their parent or
teacher told them they had to find something, or they need to know the time the movie
starts before they can make plans with their friends. If the information need is a school
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assignment, and the young adult doesn’t care about his grade and doesn’t care about the
topic, the student may do something as simple as going online, doing a quick search, and
printing something out. Hopefully, the young adult also cites his sources and uses his
own words, but that’s not always the case. With no personal interest, young adults do not
go above and beyond; they settle for doing as much or as little work as is needed in order
to complete the assignment.
Part of this is due to a level of uncertainty and anxiousness that leads uninformed
searchers to quit as soon as possible. “Uncertainty is a cognitive state that commonly
causes affective symptoms of anxiety and lack of confidence” (Kuhlthau, 103, 2004b).
With requirement as the only motivational factor, any obstacle or barrier halts progress
and ends the search. It is much easier for young adults to give up when faced with a new
barrier than it is to face it logically and thoughtfully. As stated earlier, young adults often
have difficulty controlling emotions, and combining lack of motivation with anxiousness
will, more times than not, result in emotional overload which in turn leads to the searcher
giving up on the search process.
Commitment and Accessibility.
Those who are committed to a search and have the ability to find more in-depth
information than “Googleing” offers are going to get farther up the “stairs” of the
process. “As knowledge states shift to more clearly focused thoughts, a parallel shift
occurs in feelings of increased confidence” (Kuhlthau, 103, 2004b).
Personal Interest.
While this motivational factor is supported by research, it is also just common
sense: if you are engaged and interested in any sort of information search, you are more
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likely to follow through and use every source available. This is also true for young adults,
and it follows the entertainment, or play theory, which explains: “humans tend to seek
pleasure and avoid pain, but also that they tend to mix work with play” (Case, 161,
2008a). This is also something Kuhlthau observed during a long-term study of several
students, “Motivation and intellectual engagement intensify along with construction”
(Kuhlthau, 104, 2004b).
Going up the Stairs
Web Sources
Once young adults have an established need uncertainty, they tend to go to the
Internet for basic information. It is generally accessible and a normal part of their
everyday lives. This ties to Zipf’s principle of least effort, “action that will involve the
expenditure of the probably least average of his work” (Case, 151, 2008a). Most young
adults are at school all day where computers and the Internet are usually around and
ready to go. It takes less effort to go to the back of the room, type on the keyboard, and
print something out than it does to go to the library, sign on to the library website and
figure out how to use the card catalogue, locate a source, and take notes.
The web sources step of this model also is corroborated by the Mood
Management theory, which “hypothesizes that people use entertainment sources…to
relieve stress by replacing anxious thoughts with positive (or at least distracting) stimuli”
(Case, 163, 2008a). Going back to Kuhlthau’s claim that young adults will experience
negative emotions such as confusion and anxiousness at the beginning of an information
search, it only makes sense that they will go where they feel most comfortable. Also, it is
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easy for anyone, let alone young adults, to become distracted on the Internet, thus
postponing all negative thoughts for the time being.
Our informal survey also supported the web sources as a first step (see Figure 3).
The vast majority of the young adults who took the survey chose the Internet as their first
source of information.
Figure 3: Results from the informal survey in which participants indicated which sources
were used and at what stage of their search process.
Lastly, young adults today are, and for the foreseeable future will be, digital
natives. They are comfortable with technology and web sources, as they have never
experienced life without them. In addition to their digital native status, society has
created a “structural-cultural tradition” (Case, 151) that revolves around the Internet. In
young adult society the media of choice is the Internet, so they are limited in their minds
to other choices. The tradeoff of this culture is that many sources are not even considered
by today’s young adults.
Informal Mediators and Print Sources
Once web sources have been exhausted, some young adults will end their
information search. But for those who realize they still have an information need and
want to pursue it, the next step is an informal mediator and/or print source. “Faced with
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an ASK [“anomalous state of knowledge”], individuals may attempt to address their
uncertainty by requesting or consulting information. The person will then judge whether
the anomaly has been resolved; if it is not resolved, another ASK may be generated, or
the motivation to address it may be exhausted” (Case, 74, 2008b). If another ASK is
generated, the informal survey supported the idea that young adults are most likely to
turn to informal mediators and print sources for more information.
This idea is also supported by the Principle of Least Effort, which “document[s] a
strong preference among information-seekers for interpersonal sources” (Case, 153,
2008a) and the Cost-benefit Paradigm, which suggests that when searching for
information, people “select information channels based on their expected benefits
weighted against likely costs” (Case, 154, 2008a). For some young adults, asking for help
fulfills their desire for human interaction while for others using a print source will earn
the best results for the least amount of work involved. Also, some young adults have an
informal mediator they trust, while others do not have this option.
Finally, Kuhlthau found similar results in her case studies: “…the participants
frequently turned to informal mediators, including parents, siblings, and friend…After
they have chosen their topic, even more students responded that they talked about it with
another person or used an informal mediator” (Kuhlthau, 109, 2004a).
Formal Mediators
For young adults who make it all the way up the stairs in the model, the final step
is a formal mediator, such as a librarian. The surveys, unfortunately, corroborated the
idea that consulting with a librarian or formal mediator is very much the last thought
young adults have, and Kuhlthau experienced the same result. “The case studies
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(Kuhlthau, 1988c) verified the limited role and disclosed a perception of the librarian as a
‘last resort’ source locator” (Kuhlthau, 108, 2004a). In the same chapter, Kuhlthau also
noted that some of her subjects believed going to a formal mediator was “taking the ‘easy
way out.”
In his article, Dahl (2004) addresses the need young adults feel for independence,
explaining some of their reluctance to ask for help. “Being a responsible adult requires
developing self-control over behavior and emotions to appropriately inhibit and modify
behaviors — despite strong feelings’ — to avoid terrible consequences. It requires that
individuals be capable of initiating and carrying out a specific sequence of steps toward a
long-term goal even though it may be difficult (or boring) to persist in these efforts”
(Dahl, 2004, p. 18). Young adults may think that to prove their maturity they must do
things, such as an information search, on their own. However, mature adults realize that it
is better to ask for help when needed than to unnecessarily waste time and energy.
Barriers
Our barriers started with having a fairly good idea of what this model should look
like, due to class readings and personal experience as and with young adults. This forced
us to look for some fairly specific research. Also, young adults frequently don’t
understand, don’t care, or are trying to look cool, so even talking with them and the
results of the informal survey required a grain of salt.
Conclusions
While we believe this to be the current young adult search model, in an ideal
world there would be some adjustments made.
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“It is crucial for adolescents to have the appropriate social scaffolding—the right
balance of monitoring and interest from parents, teachers, coaches an other responsible
adults—in which to develop the skills of self-control while still being afforded sufficient
support and protection” (Dahl, 2004, p. 20). We believe an ideal model would use the
formal mediator as such scaffold. Rather than being stuck at the top of the “stairs,” the
formal mediators would be a handrail going up the whole model, leading young adults to
pertinent information and guiding their search along the way.
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References
Case, D. (2008a). Information needs and information seeking. In, Looking for
information: A survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior
(2nd ed., pp. 151-163). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Case, D. (2008b). Perspectives, paradigms, and theories. In, Looking for information: A
survey of research on information seeking, needs, and behavior (2nd ed., p. 74).
Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Dahl, R. (2004). Adolescent brain development: A period of vulnerabilities and
opportunities. Annals New York Academy of Sciences, 1-22.
doi:10.1196/annals.1308.001 [Keynote address]
Jones, J. (2005). Teens will be teens: The latest brain research has a lot to say about
adolescent behavior. School Library Journal, 37. Retrieved from
http://www.slj.com
Kuhlthau, C. (2004a). Roles of mediators in the process of information seeking. In,
Seeking meaning (2nd ed., pp.108-109). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Kuhlthau, C. (2004b). Uncertainty principle. In, Seeking meaning (2nd ed., pp.103-104).
Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
YALSA Fact Sheet. (n.d.). In Young Adult Library Services Association. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yalsa.cfm
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Appendix A: Informal Survey
Unless otherwise stated, put Y for yes, N for no, S for sometimes, and U if you don’t understand
what the question/statement asks or it doesn’t apply to you.
When given a research assignment I use these sources in the following order (1 first, 2
second, 3 third, etc. Put a U for any you don’t use)
_____Books/Print sources
_____Internet sources
_____Database
_____Friends/family
_____Librarian
_____Teacher
_____I only do research when I have an assignment.
_____I do research when I have a question I want answered.
_____I can decide which information is relevant to my research.
_____I use the Internet for research.
_____I read through a few pages of Internet search results before choosing some to read
closely.
_____I know how to do an advanced search on the Internet.
_____I am good at using the Internet for finding relevant information.
_____I use books and other print sources for research.
_____I know what a database is.
_____I know how to use a database.
_____I use databases for research.
_____I am good at finding important information in a book (such as encyclopedia).
If I don’t know where or how to find information, I am comfortable asking the following
for help: (mark Y, N, S, or U for all of the following)
_____a friend or family member
_____a teacher
_____a librarian
I usually finish with my research when I: (mark Y, N, S, or U for all of the following)
_____run out of class time to work on it.
_____find most or all of the information needed for the assignment.
_____have found enough relevant and accurate information to complete the assignment.
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Appendix B: Informal Survey Results for questions 1 and 14.
Question 1: When given a research assignment I use these sources in the following order
(1 first, 2 second, 3 third, etc. Put a U for any you don’t use)
Type of
Book
Database
Librarian
Internet
Friends
Teachers
237
410
456
104
278
274
Source
Total
Question 14: If I don’t know where or how to find information, I am comfortable asking
the following for help: (mark Y, N, S, or U for all of the following)
Source
Friend/Family
Teacher
Librarian
Total
96
105
165
Note: Each response was replaced with a number from 1 to 4. For question 1, 1 equals 1,
2 equals 2, and so on so that U equals 4. For question 14, Y equals 1, N equals 2, S equals
3, and U equals 4. The lowest possible score for each source is 76, which would indicate
that all 76 participants put either a 1 or a Y for that source. Since no source has a score of
76, it is understood that no all participants agreed on which source was used first, if at all.