IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jamist/v55y2004i8p695-708.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A framework for understanding user requirements for an information service: Defining the needs of informal carers

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Hepworth

Abstract

The aim of this research was to develop a conceptual framework that would help to collect and understand the information needs of a target community. Even though many information behavior frameworks already exist, they tend to focus on different aspects of the person and their interaction with information. It was proposed that a synthesis of the existing frameworks could lead to one comprehensive framework. Previous research was analyzed and an initial framework defined. It was piloted, adapted, and then applied to data on informal carers, who are people caring for another person, generally a relative, for more than 14 hours per week, and who are not paid for it. The data stemmed from 60 interviews that were transcribed and coded. This paper presents the data on informal carers and their information experience using the final framework. It serves to demonstrate how the framework sensitizes the researcher to certain types of significant data, enables the organization of the data, indicates the relationships between different types of data, and, overall, helps to provide a rich picture of the target community's information needs. In conclusion, the paper discusses the differences and advantages of the framework in relation to previous work, the limitations of the study, and possible further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Hepworth, 2004. "A framework for understanding user requirements for an information service: Defining the needs of informal carers," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 55(8), pages 695-708, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:55:y:2004:i:8:p:695-708
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.20015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20015
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/asi.20015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:55:y:2004:i:8:p:695-708. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.asis.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.