A study of interpersonal information seeking: the role of topic and comment in the articulation of certainty and uncertainty of information need]

Introduction. This paper presents the findings and discussions of the qualitative analysis of users' information seeking articulation in interpersonal interactions. The discussion is focused on the role of the topic and comment in communicating the user's cognitive uncertainty and certainty in the quest for salient information seeking interaction effectiveness. Method. The qualitative analysis was done on the basis of the sequence of the uncertainty and certainty and the topic and comment in the user's utterances during the interaction in order to explore the use of these elements. Results. The findings suggested some patterns in the employment of uncertainty and certainty and topic and comment. Users initiated the need description with uncertainty and then provided certainty to describe the need in detail. Both topic and comment were used in every stage of information seeking interaction, on the basis of which the source person provided information. Conclusion. The study confirmed that the user's certainty and uncertainty are important for describing the user's information need and that both topic and comment are essential to communicate the need.