INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN IN THE GULF ...
Transcript of INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN IN THE GULF ...
INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN
IN THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL
UNIVERSITIES
BY
ALI AMOUR SULEIMAN EL-MAAMIRY
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Library and Information
Science
Kulliyyah of Information and Communication Technology
International Islamic University Malaysia
JANUARY 2019
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ABSTRACT
Determining the different cultural factors affecting the information-seeking behaviour
on various levels – national, organizational, group and individual is essential to get a
holistic idea of how such behaviour is formed. Females in the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC), which includes the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, are
educated in different educational systems but have the same language, culture, and
values. The purpose of this study is to expand our understanding of the linkages
between women’s culture and their information-seeking behaviour in the GCC region.
The GCC includes conservative societies that impose strict restrictions on women.
Female students, faculty members, and researchers have to comply with certain
complex cultural rules while performing their professional activities. Although women
in the GCC universities have witnessed quick technological advancements, their effort
to seek information to develop their profession or career is undermined by gender
segregation. Notably, it might seem that culture has a negative impact on women
information-seeking behaviour in the region. Examining women’s culture and their
behaviour in seeking information is a challenging topic as it is very difficult to reach
this sensitive group. A total of 2201 females in the GCC countries participated in the
survey which included students of all levels, faculty member, researchers, and
librarians. This self-response report has found significant cultural effects on the
information-seeking behaviour of women in the GCC. Four objectives were laid down
for the study to examine information needs, query formulation, task execution and
women’s interacting with systems. The survey was then conducted and found that
culture significantly affects women information needs, query formulation, task
execution and interacting with systems. Natural language terms are used to execute
queries and tasks, while only popular databases used in the region or a particular
university are used to interact with systems. Age, on the other hand, affects
information-seeking behaviour in that at an early age, the person’s information
seeking behaviour is strongly affected by culture, but when the person gets older the
effects decrease. The language also affects women query formulation and interacting
with systems. The religious and cultural restrictions on Women preventing them from
contacting foreign males (as Islamic culture insists) have been bypassed by the new
electronic technology, and women directly feel free to contact any person of opposite
gender through emails and social networks remaining physically segregated while
electronically connected. Early exposure to the internet at the pre-university level is
considered as an effect of this cultural shift in information-seeking behaviour.
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ة البحثخلاصABSTRACT IN ARABIC
دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي هي كتلة سياسية واقتصادية في منطقة الخليج العربي. وهي البحرين، دولة قطر، سلطنة مملكةمكونة من ست دول تضم الإمارات العربية المتحدة،
ة العربية السعودية. هذه المنطقة تعد من المناطق المحافظكة ملالمالكويت، و دولة عمان، تعليم مختلفة، اللعاداتها وتقاليديها وحتى في وقت قريب جدا. المرأة العربية تدرس في مناهج
بيئة السياسية مختلفة ولكن تتحدث بلغة واحدة، وعندها عادات وتقاليد واحدة الوتنشأن في والتقاليد في عى البحث إلى تحديد مدى تأثير العادات عد سك يوالقيم التربوية واحدة. لذل
سلوكيات البحث العلمي في كافة المستويات سواء أكان على مستوى الدولة، المؤسسة أو الفرد. سعى البحث لتسليط الضوء على حسب مفاهيمنا على العلاقات بين المرأة الخليجية
ث العلمي في الجامعات الخليجية. كذلك يعد لبحمع محافظتها لعاداتها وتقاليدها وسلوكيات البحث عن عادات وتقاليد دول الخليج مهمة صعبة لسبب حساسية الفئة البحثية ولكن ا
ما لأجل معرفة العادات ومدى تأثيرها في سلوكيات البحث العلمي أصبح مؤشر لا بد منه.شملت الطالبات نةشاركت في المسح واستجابت على الاستبا ليجيةامرأة خ 2201يقرب
الجامعة، والأستاذات، والباحثات وأخصائيات المكتبات. قد لوحظ لكل المراحل الدراسية فيتأثيرات سلبية للعادات والتقاليد علي سلوكيات البحث عن المعلومات في النتائج أن هناك
يلملى المعلومات. كما لوحظ أن البحث العاشباع رغبات والحصول عفي والبحث العلمي يتأثر بعدة عوامل، وهن إحتياجات المعلومات، أساليب البحث المستخدمة، تنفيذ مهمة
. كما لوحظ أيضا أن العمر له دور مهم في سرعة سترجاعالبحث والتعامل مع نظم الامما يؤدى إلي قلة المعلومات ومعرفة قواعد البيانات والمواقع الأنسب للبحثعلى صول الح
الوقت.كما لوحظ تفاوت توفر عمات لأتمام الغرض وتقليص ضيا لو استخدام مصادر المعوسائل التقنيات الرقمية الحديثة الذي تجاوز عقبة اتصال المرأة بغير المحرم لسبب تقنيات
التواصل الإجتماعي حيث يصعب معرفةشبكات التواصل الحديثة مثل الرسالة الألكترونية و ء والأفكار بلة الشخصية لذا سهل للمرأة تبادل الآراقاجنس المتصل به أو عدم الحاجة إلي الم
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بالحرية الكاملة. ويؤكد هذا البحث على أن المرأة تبدأ مسيرتها للبحث عن المعلومات بطرح سؤال للأقارب، فالمتخصصة من نفس الجنس ثم المتخصص من جنس آخر إذا استدعى
يا مع التقدم في السن حيث المرأة يجما لوحظ أيضا أن هذا السلوك يتغير تدر الأمر إلي ذلك.كالرجل في مجال البحث العلمي وعدم الشعور بالحرج في التعامل مع الرجال في البحث تشارك
العلمي وتبعد عن الإعتماد علي الأقارب ومشاركة الرجل في النشر والبحث. وقد أثبت قنيات الحديثة في لتجية التي تستخدم اذوجود المدارس النمو تغير قليلا ل هناكالبحث بأن
احل ما قبل الجامعة، الذي أدى إلي إعتماد المرأة الخليجية على الذات أولا ثم التوجه إلي مر أخصائيات في المجال أو المتخصص مثل الأستاذ أو أخصائي المكتبات وغيره وذلك لثقتها
.اقع الإنترنت ومواقع البحث المختلفةبنفسها للقيام بالبحث والتعامل مع مو
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APPROVAL PAGE
The thesis of Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry has been approved by the following:
_____________________________
Noor Hasrul Nizan bin Muhammad Noor
Supervisor
_____________________________
Roslina Othman
Internal Examiner
_____________________________
Wan Ab. Kadir Wan Dollah
External Examiner
_____________________________
Abdus Sattar Chaudhry
External Examiner
_____________________________
Saim Kayadibi
Chairman
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where
otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently
submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.
Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry
Signature ........................................................... Date .........................................
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COPYRIGHT
INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF
FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH
INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOUR OF WOMEN IN THE
GULF CORPORATION COUNCIL UNIVERSITIES
I declare that the copyright holders of this thesis are jointly owned by the student and
IIUM.
Copyright © 2019 Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry and International Islamic University Malaysia. All
rights reserved.
No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder
except as provided below
1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may
only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.
2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print
or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.
3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system
and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other
universities and research libraries.
By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM
Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.
Affirmed by Ali Amour Suleiman El-Maamiry
……..…………………….. ………………………..
Signature Date
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DEDICATION
This thesis is dedicated to my family
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, it is my utmost pleasure to dedicate this work to my dear parents and my
family, who granted me the gift of their unwavering belief in my ability to accomplish
this goal: thank you for your moral and physical support and patience.
I wish to express my appreciation and thanks to those who provided their time,
effort and support for this project. To my colleagues at the University of Dubai,
Library and Learning Resources Centre for helping me to collect data manually from
students and faculty. I wish to thank also Dr. Eesa Bastaki (President) for giving me
permission to do my studies, Dr. Yaprak Anadol, Dr. Geoffrey Gachino (Chief
Academic Officer), Dr. Sami Minioui and Dr. Muzamil Naqshibandi of the University
of Dubai for their different levels of help to make this piece of work successful. To
Dr. Hussein Mohammed Elmehdi, Dean of Academic Support Services in the
University of Sharjah, Mrs. Nadia Massoud, Director of Library at the University of
Sharjah and her colleagues. To Mr. Ibrahim Tuneiji, Acting Dean of Library, the
University of United Arab Emirates and his colleagues. To Dr. Michael Allen, Dean
of Research, Zayed University, Dr. Mary Sengati-Zimba, Head of Support Services -
Zayed University, Dr. Leslie Haas Dean of Library, Zayed University. To Dr.
Suleiman Khanjari, Dean of Research, the University of Nizwa. And last but not the
least Dr. Seif Al-Jabry, & Dr. Ali Al-Mugheiry, of the Sultan Qaboos University for
their help to circulate the questionnaire manually and electronically in their respective
institutions to make this project successful. To the members of my dissertation
committee, thank you for sticking with me and spending your time for my success.
Finally, a special thanks to Assistant Professor Dr. Noor Hasrul Nizan bin
Mohammad Noor for his continuous valuable support, encouragement, and leadership,
and for that, I will be forever grateful. May Allah Almighty bless you all and guide
you to more success.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ........................................................................................................................ ii Abstract in Arabic ........................................................................................................ iii
Approval Page .............................................................................................................. v Declaration ................................................................................................................... vi Copyright ..................................................................................................................... vii Dedication .................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... ix
List of Tables ............................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Research ..................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 5 1.3 Research Aim and Objectives ................................................................... 7
1.4 Research Questions ................................................................................... 7 1.5 Relevance of the Study.............................................................................. 8
1.5.1 The Setting of the Study (Research Paradigms) .............................. 8 1.5.2 Need for the Study ........................................................................... 16
1.6 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................. 17
1.7 Research Hypotheses ................................................................................ 21
1.8 Significance of the Study .......................................................................... 22 1.9 Limitations of the Study ............................................................................ 23
1.10 Operational Definitions of Terms ............................................................ 25 1.11 Chapter Summary..................................................................................... 30
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................... 31 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 31
2.2 Gender Differences in Information Seeking Behaviour............................ 31 2.3 Arab Culture and Values ........................................................................... 33 2.4 Information Seeking .................................................................................. 40 2.5 Information Seeking Behaviour ................................................................ 42
2.6 Information Needs ..................................................................................... 49 2.7 Women’s Information Seeking Behaviour................................................ 51
2.8 Chapter Summary...................................................................................... 54
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .............. 55 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................ 55 3.2 Research Design ........................................................................................ 55
3.3 Population Sampling .................................................................................. 56 3.4 Instruments and Measures ......................................................................... 58 3.5 Data Collection and Analysis .................................................................... 64 3.6 Validity and Reliability ............................................................................. 67 3.7 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................... 69
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CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF
RESULTS ................................................................................................................... 70
4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 70 4.2 Part One: Demographic Information ......................................................... 71 4.3 Part Two: Culture and Information Seeking-Behaviour ........................... 89
4.3.1 Cultural Dimensions ........................................................................ 89 4.3.1.1 A Collectivist Culture .......................................................... 89
4.3.1.2 Power Distance .................................................................... 105 4.3.1.3 Speed of Message ................................................................ 112 4.3.1.4 Time Cultural Dimension .................................................... 121
4.4 The Information Seeking Behaviour ......................................................... 130 4.4.1 Information Needs ........................................................................... 130
4.4.2 Query Formulation .......................................................................... 130 4.4.3 Task Execution ................................................................................ 130
4.4.4 Interaction with systems .................................................................. 131 4.5 Chapter Summary...................................................................................... 131
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ........................................ 133
5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 133 5.2 Summary of the Results ............................................................................ 134
5.2.1 Collectivist Culture .......................................................................... 134 5.2.2 Power Distance Culture ................................................................... 152 5.2.3 Speed of Message Culture ............................................................... 162
5.2.4 Time Cultural Dimension ................................................................ 165
5.2.5 Language Proficiency and Age ........................................................ 171 5.3 Discussion of the Results .......................................................................... 173
CHAPTER SIX: IMPLICATIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 195
6.1 Implications and Conclusions ................................................................... 195 6.2 Recommendations For Future Studies ...................................................... 207
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 209
APPENDIX A: ENGLISH QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE .................................. 227
APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE FOR PILOT STUDY ................ 233
APPENDIX C: ARABIC QUESTIONNAIRE SAMPLE ..................................... 239 APPENDIX D: FIRST MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ................. 246 APPENDIX E: SECOND MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ............. 247
APPENDIX F: THIRD MOST FREQUENTLY USED DATABASE ................ 248 APPENDIX G: COLLECTIVISM FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION ................. 249 APPENDIX H: INFORMATION NEEDS FREQUENCY ................................... 250 APPENDIX I: MOSTLY FREQUENTLY ACCESSED DATABASES ............ 251 APPENDIX J: FREQUENTLY ACCESSED SEARCH ENGINES .................. 252
APPENDIX K: TIME DIMENSION VS TASK EXECUTION ........................... 253 APPENDIX L: Q16 VS Q14 CROSSTABULATION ........................................... 254 APPENDIX M: Q16 VS Q8 MULTIPLE RESPONSE FREQUENCY ............... 255 APPENDIX N: REGRESSION RESULTS INTERACTING WITH
SYSTESMS .................................................................................... 256
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APPENDIX O: HELP SEEKING FREQUENCY ................................................. 257 APPENDIX P: SEARCH ENGINES vs SCALE ................................................... 258
APPENDIX Q: MULTIPLE REGRESSION RESULTS ..................................... 259
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Factors of Information Seeking Behaviour 49
Table 3.1 Hofstede's Individualism vs Collectivism 60
Table 3.2 Hall's Time Cultural Dimension 62
Table 3.3 Hofstede's Power Distance Dimension 63
Table 3.4 Hall's Speed of Message Dimension 64
Table 3.5 Instrumentation and Measurement 66
Table 3.6 Reliability Statistics 68
Table 3.7 Total Item Reliability Statistics 68
Table 4.1 University Representation 72
Table 4.2 Representation at Different Education Levels 73
Table 4.3 Nature of Affiliation 73
Table 4.4 Responses per Specialisation 74
Table 4.5 Languages Known 75
Table 4.6 Crosstabulation: Specialisation vs Databases 77
Table 4.7 Field of Specialisation vs Search Engines Option 79
Table 4.8 University vs Database 81
Table 4.9 Category of User vs Purpose of Research 83
Table 4.10 Category of User vs Special Information Needs 85
Table 4.11 How to Extract Relevant Information 86
Table 4.12 Age vs Ways of Seeking Information 88
Table 4.13 Descriptive Statistics of Information Needs 95
Table 4.14 Description Statistics of Composite Variables of Information
Needs 96
Table 4.15 Pearson Chi-Square Test Results on Collectivism 99
Table 4.16 Collectivism – Frequency Distribution 100
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Table 4.17 Pearson Chi-Square Test Results 101
Table 4.18 Frequency Distribution of Collectivism and Satisfaction with
Sources 102
Table 4.19 Frequency Distribution of Collectivism and Library Services 103
Table 4.20 Hierarchical Regressions Results of Information Seeking
Behaviour 105
Table 4.21 Descriptive Statistics – Power Distance 106
Table 4.22 Descriptive Statistics Q21 (a-f & m) – Power Distance 109
Table 4.23 Power Distance vs Query Formulation 110
Table 4.24 Descriptive Statistics for Speed of Message 113
Table 4.25 Descriptive Statistics for Interaction with systems 115
Table 4.26 Descriptive Statistics: Interaction with systems (Q26) 117
Table 4.27 Time Cultural Dimension 122
Table 4.28 Number of Hours Spent per Week Searching for Information 123
Table 4.29 Language Preferred in Searching for Information 124
Table 4.30 Using Search Engines and Academic Databases 125
Table 4.31 Frequency Distribution of Task Execution 126
Table 4.32 Chi-Square Test – Time Dimension vs Interaction with
systems 127
Table 4.33 Using Search Engines vs Appropriate Sources (Multiple
Response Cross-Tabulation) 128
Table 4.34 Using Search Engines vs Language Preferred to Search
Information 129
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Research Design 8
Figure 1.2 Conceptual Framework 20
Figure 4.1 Collectivist Culture 91
Figure 4.2 Information Needs – Responses and Cumulative Responses 94
Figure 4.3 Most Frequently Used Databases 97
Figure 4.4 Mostly Frequently Accessed Search Engines 98
Figure 4.5 Query Formulation - Frequency Distribution 107
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH
Information seeking behaviour is one of the most common topics studied in the
information retrieval field. Researchers of either gender are concerned with gathering
recent information and data to perform their research projects’ requirements.
Information seeking is a basic activity performed by everyone, and people adopt
different behaviours when searching for information (Wilson, 2000). Unlimited types
of information that can be found via numerous search engines are all available on one
platform by just one click away (Fidel et al., 1999). It is very confusing to handle
those sources while searching for information. Probably, the increase in the volume of
easily accessible online information has affected information seeking behaviour
among women researchers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), which
includes the Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the
State of Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The governments in the GCC countries recognise the important role of
information and communication technology (ICT) in the social development, which
has been emphasised in the general long-term development plans of the countries.
These plans aim to transform the individual countries into an information society.
Bridging the digital divide through the utilisation of information communication
technology and providing information services to the local society are among the ways
to boost the ICT in the region.
One of the dimensions influencing the use of online information resources is
the way library resources are structured, accessed and searched. Rowlands et al.
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(2008) suggest that users find library databases less instinctive than search engines.
Patrons find it more difficult to use library interfaces than to use Google, and online
library resources are often located outside the patrons’ learning environment. They
may not be aware of the resources’ availability. Other difficulties in using the library
online resources include having to make separate searches on catalogues and
databases, locating relevant databases and not always having access to full-text, which
is an obstacle for patrons who want everything instantly. This idea of Rowlands et al.
(2008) and others does not exist in the Gulf universities currently due to technology
advancements.
All universities in the region apply Summons serials solutions 360 (supplied by
ProQuest) or Discovery Solutions (supplied by EBSCO), and new library management
systems such as Sierra, Millennium, World Share, Alma, Liberty and so on, which
have discovery services, serial solutions and support federated search options. Some
of the library management systems (catalogues) have built in an easy proxy option
which supports federated search and enable users to search all university library
resources under one roof (with a single sign in). It seems that those embedded features
attract patrons to library databases and catalogues, rather than search engines which
sometimes informs them if this source is available full text in a university collection
when searching in Google Scholar. These library catalogues (management systems)
are Google stylish, which connect patrons to all available resources in the collection
(whether journal articles, e-books or printed books) and make them not to bother on
which sources are reliable for their needs or to interact with; instead, they interact with
a database that produces desired results. Federated search options are available in all
six university libraries surveyed to facilitate searches to all sources of information
available.
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There are also feelings that library contents are diminishing and that it “will
become more difficult to find information as patrons’ land where search engines take
them and not where librarians think they ought to land them (Rowlands et al., 2008, p.
292).” It seems that libraries are at war with search engines which always make
people think that they can find whatever they want in commercial search engines
rather than academic databases. It is important that libraries keep up with changes and
new trends in information seeking behaviours, new technologies and changes in the
online environment. “Library websites often reflect an organisational view of the
library (Rowlands et al., 2008, p. 293)”, rather than a user-centred interface; it seems
evident that there is an apparent disconnection between the culture of library
organisations and that of net generation students (Lippincott, 2005).
Notably, gender is one of the intervening variables in information seeking
behaviour (Wilson, 1997). In addition, Maghferat and Stock (2010) investigated
gender-specific information seeking behaviour and found that there are gender
differences in the selection of sources and degree of satisfaction. However, there are
few studies dealing with gender differences in information seeking behaviour.
Accordingly, the researcher decided to study women’s information seeking behaviour
in the Gulf countries universities. How information needs are generated, and how
GCC women search to fulfil them through formulating a query, interacting with
systems and executing the tasks are fundamental questions in this study.
Until recently, women in the GCC countries were expected to be fully
committed to their homes and family; they were rarely encouraged to study. Also, the
strict gender segregation policy of the Gulf countries’ society makes it difficult for
researchers to do research or conduct studies on women in the Arab world. In fact, it is
impossible to do a research on women in the Arab world without referring to the
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relatively conservative culture, which has a direct impact on various aspects of their
life including information seeking behaviour. According to Ibn Khaldun (1865, p 468)
in his book Al-Muqadimmah, “when luxury and prosperity come to civilised people, it
naturally causes them to follow the ways of sedentary culture and adopts its customs.
As one knows, that sedentary culture is the adoption of diversified luxuries, the
cultivation of the things that go with them”.
For instance, in the GCC countries, women are expected to be modest,
respectful and seldom engage in social interaction with unrelated males (Oshan, 2007)
or discuss sensitive topics (e.g., politics, or health) (Munajjed, 1997). These cultural
norms are predicted strongly to affect women’s information seeking behaviour and the
use of information technology in their studies, research activities and even the
workplace. On one hand, it might be assumed that in the GCC countries, women
would prefer to use offline sources such as asking family members, colleagues or
instructors when having specific personal information needs in-order to comply with
cultural norms. On the other hand, it is observed that they use the internet to access
information (Aldhaheri, 2012) or send emails to colleagues, friends, and instructors
(Binsahl, 2015).
This study seeks to understand how the culture in the GCC academic libraries
have affected women’s information seeking behaviour in the region as well as how
technology modifies the women’s information seeking process. Much research has
been done on information seeking behaviour of a specific population such as children
(Fidel et al. 1999), youth (Eskola, 1998; Biswas and Pandey, 2009), women
(Aldhaheri, 2012; Bensahl, 2015; Altamimi, 2014), distance learning (Haghparast,
Hanum and Abdullah 2013), social scientists (Suqri, 2007), engineers (Dutton and
Jeffreys, 2010; Haines, Light, O’Malley and Delwiche, 2010) and so on, which are
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defined by the age, level of education, profession, gender or environment. It is clear
that women students, researchers, and faculty members would prefer to obtain the
most recent information from various media sources available in the libraries, such as
encyclopedias, journals, books and more current electronic resources and databases.
The frequency of the use of the internet nowadays has greatly increased – it is now the
first source utilized by researchers, faculty members, and students alike.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Supporting research and learning activities has been a major mission for libraries of
the Gulf Cooperation Council universities at all levels of study regardless of gender.
For example, The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has focused on educating both men
and women; in 1975, the rate of adult literacy was 54 percent men and 31 percent
women. Today, literacy rates for both genders are close to 95 percent (The UAE
Embassy in Washington, 2018). In order to support the current efforts exerted to
improve research and learning activities in the GCC region, the problems impeding
such efforts must be addressed.
Behaviour of women in the GCC is not readily available for examination
because of the culture; thus, there is no much knowledge on their information seeking
behaviour. Moreover, the spread of the use of electronic resources in academic
libraries as the main source of information and the popularity of social networks
necessitate research on information seeking behaviour in the GCC region. Studies
suggest that the Gulf Cooperation Council countries have a homogenous culture (Idris,
2007), and have been shaped by the conventions of the Islamic religion such as gender
segregation (Al-Munajjed, 1997). Less is known about females’ behaviour in the GCC
countries since the studies of Al-Kahtani (2006) on women and technology; Oshan
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(2007) on women and the internet in Saudi Arabia (as part of the GCC countries);
Aldhaheri (2012) on Arab women using the internet (case of the UAE and Oman); and
Binsahl (2015) on exploring the factors that impact Saudi female international
students’ use of social technologies, respectively. All those exploratory studies were
examining women’s use of the internet to understand the use, time spent, the purpose
of use and their attitudes on the internet. A gap is identified in the present literature as
women’s information seeking behaviour in academic institutions in the GCC has not
been extensively investigated. Thus, the present study fills this gap as it examines
women’s information seeking behaviour and the use of information technology in
their studies, careers and professional development. The purpose of this study is to
describe women’s information seeking behaviour in the GCC countries.
Significantly, strict culture, massive technological advancements, and poor
information skills are among problems that women face in their search for information
as they undertake their education endeavours (McClusky, 2017). All those factors
cause educational information seeking hindrances, which must be addressed in order
to improve females’ search capabilities, the quality of the retrieved information, and
their source selection decisions.
Therefore, there is a need to investigate women’s information seeking
behaviour relatively with socio-demographic factors, cultural factors, reading habits
and language barriers in the Gulf Cooperation Council universities. Thus, a better
understanding of women’s information needs, task execution, query formulation and
interaction with systems will be achieved. To date, there have been scarce studies on
women’s information seeking behaviour in the GCC. Therefore, it is important to
conduct this study in the Gulf region.
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1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the study is to examine women’s information seeking behaviour in the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) universities and problems that female face in
accessing electronic resources while preserving the cultural norms and values.
Selected universities that cover a range of subject areas including arts, business,
engineering, law, medicine, pure science, applied sciences, social science etc. are
included in the study in order to provide robust evidence of female’s information
seeking behaviour in the Gulf Cooperation Council universities.
The study aimed to achieve the following objectives:
1. To examine the women’s information needs
2. To examine the women’s query formulation
3. To examine the women’s task execution
4. To examine the women’s interaction with systems and
5. To provide robust evidence of females’ information seeking behaviour in
the Gulf Cooperation Council universities.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study specifically aims to answer the following research questions:
1. How do cultural factors influence women’s information seeking
behaviour?
2. How do information needs activate women’s information seeking
behaviour?
3. What are the characteristics of women’s information seeking behaviour?
4. What are the factors affecting women’s information needs?
5. How the language affects women’s information seeking behaviour?
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1.5 RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5.1 The Setting of the Study (Research Paradigms)
Figure 1.1: Research Design
Framing of Generalisation
Hypotheses Supported Aims and Objectives Achieved
Analysis and Interpretation
Online Survey and Printed
Questionnaire distribution
Quantitative method of Research
To ascertain factors impact women’s
information seeking behaviour Hypothesised that culture has positive
impacts on women’s information
seeking behaviour
Culture, Language, Information Needs,
Query Formulation, Task Execution and
Interaction with Systems
Literature Review
Information Seeking Behaviour of Women in
GCC
Theoretical Framework
What factors affect women’s
information seeking behaviour
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This study included six universities within the United Arab Emirates and the
Sultanate of Oman, particularly. It covered four universities in the United Arab
Emirates, namely The University of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates University,
Zayed University and the University of Sharjah. In addition, two universities were
examined in the Sultanate of Oman, namely The Sultan Qaboos University and the
University of Nizwa. These universities are the largest federal and local government
institutions in their respective countries. Because of being government institutions,
there was a high probability of having a high population of nationals and few
foreigners. Notably, there were other local government institutions, but they were
small in size. Foreign universities were not considered in this study because they had a
lot of foreigners and would have resulted in misleading results.
A correlational design was set for this study in which correlational statistics
were used to measure and describe the degree of relationships between four
independent and other four dependent variables as suggested by Creswell (2014). The
study provides the numeric description of trends, attitudes, and opinions of women’s
information seeking behaviour. Only a group of women was considered as a
population sample to enable inferences about their information seeking behaviour.
The survey method was used for data collection because it was difficult for the male
researcher to reach this sensitive group for interviews or observations. That mixed
model was selected to reduce the bias and weakness of each research methodology to
some extent.
The philosophical view of this piece of work is based on positivist thinking,
which mostly related to quantitative research (Pickard, 2013). The topic was examined
to determine the causal natural laws of culture in relation to information seeking
behaviour. The researcher and participants are independent of each other. The study