Post on 28-Mar-2015
Searching information and evaluation of Internet: - a Chinese academic user survey
Dong Xiaoying, Ph.DGuanghua School of Management, Peking University,100871dongxy@gsm.pku.edu.cn
Introduction
The project sponsored by UNESCO and China National Foundation of Social Sciences
Continuous to the survey conducted in 1998
Data collected from PKU, ISTIC and Zhe Jiang Information Centeer
Research method
706 questionnaires were collected, including online
Data processed by SPSS
Outline of research
The background of the Internet users The state-of-the-art of using Internet Information seeking behavior The users’ evaluation of Internet resources The users’ expectation of Internet services
1. The background of the Internet users
Academic group is the biggest one
government2%
busi ness9%
medi a1%
academi c79%
others9% academi c
busi nessgovernmentmedi aothers
Distribution by professions
36314
8
65
64
75
114
0 100 200 300 400
researcher
facul ty
student
of f i ci al
busi ness
medi a
others
The Gender of user group
60. 76%
39. 24%
71%
29%
0. 00%10. 00%20. 00%30. 00%40. 00%50. 00%60. 00%70. 00%80. 00%
mal e femal e
20011998
Young people is the biggest group
31- 4017%
20-3069%
51-602%
41-507%
bel ow 204%
above 601%
User’s distributions in social sciences, humanities and sciences
soci al sci ence20%
humani ti es14%sci ences
66%
100136
248
0
50
100
150
200
250
Basi csci ence
Appl i edsci ence
Engi neer i ngand
technol ogy
User distributions with science background
42. 45
30. 32
16. 5
1. 419. 31
0
10
20
30
40
50
bel ow 1000 1000- 2000 2000- 5000 above 5000 no answer
Distribution by incomes
2. The state-of-the-art of using Internet
History of using Internet
10. 30%
24. 54%
31. 31%
25. 95%
7. 19%
0. 00% 10. 00% 20. 00% 30. 00% 40. 00%
wi thi n 1
1-2 year
2-3 year
3-5 year
above 5 year
The time spending on Internet each week
wi thi n 1 hour9%
1-3 hour19%
3-5 hour19%
5-8 hour16%
above 837%
3. Information seeking behavior in using Internet
Channels of obtaining information
76. 80%
8%
8%
15%
17. 80%
21. 70%
36. 50%
32. 10%
34. 30%
29. 90%
0. 00%10. 00%20. 00%30. 00%40. 00%50. 00%60. 00%70. 00%80. 00%90. 00%
search engi ne
web l i nk
j ournal and book
database
l i brary catal og
col l eague
ref erence and ci tat i on
book store
pr i vate col l ect i on
conf erence
Services to be used
84. 80%58. 20%
51. 10%42. 50%
38. 90%35. 50%
30. 60%30. 50%
11%
0. 00% 10. 00%20. 00%30. 00%40. 00% 50. 00%60. 00%70. 00%80. 00%90. 00%
emai l
www
search engi ne
down sof tware
l i brary
e- j ournal
BBS
database
newsgroup
The languages to be accessed from Internet
69. 70%
94. 90%
2. 70% 1. 70% 0. 40% 0. 10%
0. 00%
20. 00%
40. 00%
60. 00%
80. 00%
100. 00%
Chi nese Engl i sh J apanese German French Russi an
4. The users’ evaluation of Internet resources
The gap between Chinese and English Websites
17. 33%
37. 19%
2. 56%
40. 46%
16. 54%
29. 33%
5. 78% 10. 37%8. 87%
31. 43%
0. 00%
10. 00%
20. 00%
30. 00%
40. 00%
50. 00%
very smal l smal l neutral bi g very bi g
quanti tyqual i ty
Quantity difference(1998/2002)
5. 78
17. 33
37. 19
2. 3
35. 9
2829. 33
10. 376. 8
26. 9
05
10152025303540
very smal l smal l neutral bi g very bi g
20021998
Quality difference(1998/2002)
8. 87
31. 43
40. 6
32. 8
2. 56
16. 5
2. 1 5. 3
21. 9
37. 5
05
101520
2530354045
very smal l smal l neutral bi g very bi g
20021998
The usefulness of Internet resource to your work
very i mportant26%
usel ess0%
sl i ghty useful5%
useful43%
neutral26%
The consensus from different educational backgrouns
below undergrad
uate
undergraduate
graduate
doctorate
average
Waste of time 2.76 2.63 2.66 2.66 2.65
Mingle and poor quality 3.22 3.29 3.27 3.21 3.26
Useful information 3.41 3.31 3.42 3.63 3.41
Supplement to other resources 3.66 3.74 3.75 3.85 3.76
Most important resource 3.14 3.09 3.31 3.47 3.24
Narrow the digital gap 3.64 3.57 3.72 3.86 3.68
Difficulties of accessing Internet (%)
60. 1
38. 4
37
30. 1
19. 6
18. 1
8. 8
16. 3
5. 9
6. 9
4. 9
1. 9
23. 9
27. 5
0 20 40 60 80
sl ow
pri ce
qual i ty
di f f i cul ty i n search
vi rus/ hi ker
i stabl e
l ack of i ntermedi ary
dead l i nks
l anguage barri ers
19982002
The consensus from different educational background
bel owundergraduate
undergraduate graduatedoctorate
average
Waste of ti me 2. 76 2. 63 2. 66 2. 66 2. 65Mi ngl e and poor qual i ty 3. 22 3. 29 3. 27 3. 21 3. 26Useful i nformati on 3. 41 3. 31 3. 42 3. 63 3. 41Suppl ement to other resources 3. 66 3. 74 3. 75 3. 85 3. 76Most i mportant resource 3. 14 3. 09 3. 31 3. 47 3. 24Narrow the di gi tal gap 3. 64 3. 57 3. 72 3. 86 3. 68
5. The users’ expectation of Internet services
rank Concept Number Terms and phrase1 Specialized subject
nformation244 specialized subject website, journal and article, expert consult
service, academic research report, background information,international conference
2 Latestdevelopment
163 Frontier information, advance progress, trends of newtechnology, application of new product, predict report
3 e-documents 91 Digital library, full text document, electronic article,information for examination
4Modern distanceeducation
63 Basic teaching material courseware/real time course,download teaching material from Internet, online textbook,teaching syllabus, special statistics data, experimental data,manual, English textbook
5 Scholarlyinformation
55 proceedings, thesis and dissertation database, patent, statisticsdata, classical literature,
From your teaching and research experience, which kind of Internet resources do you need most?
Rank Concept number Terms and descriptors1 Accuracy and
authority396 Authority, credibility reliable in resource, objective and
truth, concrete in content, depth and detailed description,specialized information
2 Currency and updateon time
255 Frontiers and trends, follow the track of science andtechnology development, original information
3 High speed 212 High speed in network, download, easy to connect withinternational part
4 Rich in content185 comprehensive and systematic coverage and category,
information with different historical time5 Convenience in access 143 efficient search engine, better classification and retrieval
system, wide range links, less dead links, easy to expand,easy to access, stable
From your teaching and research experience, which conditions are indispensable for a high quality network?
Rank Concept number Terms and descriptors1 Accuracy and
authority396 Authority, credibility reliable in resource, objective and
truth, concrete in content, depth and detailed description,specialized information
2 Currency and updateon time
255 Frontiers and trends, follow the track of science andtechnology development, original information
3 High speed 212 High speed in network, download, easy to connect withinternational part
4 Rich in content185 comprehensive and systematic coverage and category,
information with different historical time5 Convenience in access 143 efficient search engine, better classification and retrieval
system, wide range links, less dead links, easy to expand,easy to access, stable
6 Low cost 26 Free, low price, classified fee based service7 Unique 19 Representative to profession, rare, special creation
Conclusion(1)
The group with higher academic degree, spending more time and have higher comments on Internet
Income is not the key factor affecting the usage of Internet
The searching behavior is hybrid, Internet is a supplement to traditional information resources
Conclusion(2)
Internet is helpful to narrowing the knowledge gap
The user pay more attention to Internet content rather than its format, authority and validation is the main concern for the quality
Intermediary have big space in providing value added services
Further study
the regional divergence of using Internet among academics, particularly between developed and developing areas in China
the patterns of information seeking behavior of different target groups need to be explored
Thank you very much