Transcript Presentation of Year One findings

Researchers of Tomorrow
A three year (BL/JISC) study tracking the
research behaviour of 'Generation Y'
doctoral students
Some findings from
Year 1
Introduction



2007: The Google Generation Information Behaviour of
the Researcher of the Future research (CIBER):
focusing on ‘digital natives’ born after 1993
2009: Researchers of Tomorrow focusing on doctoral
students born between 1982 – 1994, ‘Generation Y’
Aims to “establish a benchmark for research
behaviour” and “provide guidance to the community of
libraries and information specialists on how best to
meet the research needs of Gen Y scholars and
immediate successors.”
Areas of research





mapping emerging research behaviour trends across
the main subject disciplines;
investigating how doctoral scholars, in particular those
from Gen Y, seek information both on and offline;
measuring the relative use of digital resources and
physical resources;
understanding how Gen Y students search for and use
digital content for research; and
if and how they use emergent technologies
Methodology



Gen Y cohort: 60 Gen Y doctoral students recruited
in a 2½ year longitudinal study: contributions in blog
entries, discussion forums, one-to-one interviews
and a discussion workshop held in February 2010.
Gen Y survey sample: 2,063 Gen Y doctoral
students completed annual national context-setting
survey in July 2009.
Wider survey sample: 3,347 other UK doctoral
students also completed same annual national
context-setting survey.
The first year




Used the national survey to do some ‘groundclearing’ research about resources used, training and
support received, technology used
Results broadly bear out what is already known about
the research community
The Gen Y cohort – early questions and blogs about
who they are, what they are researching, their
research environment, where they work etc.
One interesting discussion workshop with 45
participants in the cohort
Ways of searching for
information….
Combined
Guides to/catalogues of archival…
National data centre online
Browsed library shelves
Asked friend/colleague/author
Works of reference online or print
Wikipedia
Website of an organisation or…
Publishers' website
Cross-institutional library catalogue
Bibliographic database
Subject-specific information…
Internal library catalogue (own…
Abstracts/indexes online or print
Search interface of e-journal
Citation database
Google/Google scholar
0%
Medical, dental and
other health sciences
Engineering and
computer sciences
Biomedical and
veterinary sciences
Biological sciences
Physical sciences
Social sciences
Arts & humanities
20%
40%
60%
What were they looking for?
Computer manuals/programming…
Combined
Photograph or other image
Medical, dental and
other health sciences
Engineering and
computer sciences
Biomedical and
veterinary sciences
Biological sciences
Geospatial or mapping data
Statistical data
Non-published archival material
Name/definition/explanation of…
Any/all background written…
Verification of specific fact(s)
Physical sciences
Scientific or mathematical data
Social sciences
Specific piece of published writing
Any/all published writing on a topic
Arts & humanities
Any/all bibliographic references on…
Specific bibliographic reference
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Research resources most used…
Sound or video recording
Combined
Printed photograph or other…
Medical, dental and
other health sciences
Engineering and
computer sciences
Biomedical and
veterinary sciences
Biological sciences
Raw data (available for analysis)
News article (printed or online)
Manuscript or printed document
Digistised version of manuscript…
Published data (analysed and…
Physical sciences
e-book or excerpt
Printed book or excerpt
Social sciences
Printed journal article
Arts & humanities
Abstract, bibliographic reference
Full-text e-journal article
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Training in information
and research skills
creating digital media, podcasts, wikis, Second…
managing references and using tools…
open access publishing/archiving
information on Research Excellence…
Copyright/intellectual property rights and…
Not received
finding/using data and datasets online
finding/using manuscript and archival sources…
Received, but not
very useful
finding resources beyond own institution (e.g…
specific information skills (e.g finding 'grey…
Received, and
useful
finding/using bibliographic, abstract and…
keeping up to date in research (e.g. use of…
using own institution portal to access electronic…
generic online skills (e.g using Google…
generic computer skills (e.g. Word, Excel,…
e-research infrastructure services (virtual…
e-research methods and tools (data mining,…
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Support in information seeking and
research
Assistance to facilitate the deposit of your
research outputs into the institutional…
Alerting services to what is new or different in
institutional collections
Valuable
Advice on how to publish your work in open
access journals, archives or repositories
Unaware of
availability
Subject specialist advice from subject
librarians on information sources/resources
Never used
Advice on copyright/intellectual property
rights issues relating to your research
Have used, but
not regularly
Collaborative access arrangements with other
institutions – enabling researcher access to…
Used regularly
Help and support in using discovery and access
technologies and tools (e.g how to search a database)
Library staff assistance with finding/retrieving
resources that are difficult to identify or get…
Inter-library lending and document supply
(getting documents for you from other…
Recommendations on information or
research resources from supervisor
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Using technology
Wikis
Alerting services and RSS
Voice-over Internet Protocol (e.g skype)
Text and data mining
Media-sharing websites
3D technology and visualisation
Not used
Web-authoring tools
Twitter/blogging
Used but of limited
value
Geo-spatial analysis and mapping
Used and valued
Grid computing
Virtual Research Environment
Social bookmarking
e-portfolios
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Where do they get help in using
technology…
Self-help/web based forums and tools
Received no help
Online technical support
Family and friends
All other
Other students
Gen Y
Tutors and lecturers
Institutional computing staff
Library staff
Supervisor
0%
5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
Emerging findings 1


Not dramatic differences between Gen Y students
and other age groups
Indications that
–
–
–
Gen Y students slightly less likely to turn to library staff
(especially subject librarians) for help
Gen Y more likely to rely on supervisors for
recommendations on research resources and technology
support
Gen Y more likely to turn to other students for help and
support using technology
Emerging findings 2

Gen Y students are
– Conservative and risk averse in research
behaviour e.g. choice of information
sources, awareness of the need for
authority and authenticity
– Embrace technology readily and use it
intuitively BUT
– Sceptical about the inherent merits of
technology and do not equate ease of
access with quality of resource
Emerging findings 3

Gen Y students are willing to put in effort to learn to
use new tools if the following factors are evident:
– tools complement, not challenge ways of working
(essentially traditional and guided by their
supervisors);
– pay back for effort is clear in terms of their research;
– support in adopting new applications is readily
available, especially from peers or supervisors
Questions for the next year




The role of supervisors and technology take-up
Attitudes towards using mediated content and
intermediaries in research support
Attitudes towards using open access
– As research resources
– As places to publish their own research
What kinds of training and support would best serve
their needs
Researchers of Tomorrow
www.researchersof tomorrow.net
Julie Carpenter
[email protected]