Attributes of information
Retrievable Familiar
On hand
TH ING I DO IS DISCUSS IT WITH TH E OTH ER VETS I N TH E PRACTICE. IF WE CAN 'T COME U P WITH AN AN
SWE R OR IF SOMEON E REMEM- . B E R S R EA D I N G S O M ET H I N G I
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C H ECK TH E TEXT B O O KS A N D P R OCEED I N GS THAT W E HAV E . JOU RNALS A R E HARD T O F I N D ANY THI NG I N . I AM USED TO USING TH E
BOOKS AND PROCEEDI NGS AN D WE HAVE THEM RIGHT HERE.
Figure 6: Sample category card with properties
Attri butes of i nformation practical
specific instructions not too complicated accessible
easily extracted information read ily appl ied
quickly obtainable m u st attract attention brief
jto the poi nt
accu rateread able
contai n references
/
contacts inte resti ngClie nt needs and satisfaction are the prime motivation for the search for i nformation .
C urrent i nfo rmation is not as i m portant as familiar and read ily acces si ble i nformation.
Veterinarians prefer thei r own l ibraries.
I nformation sources that are hard to use, time consu m i ng , or u nfami l iar are not used .
Ti me is the most im portant l i m iting factor influencing i nformation search.
2 4 CONS TANT COMPARAT IVE METHOD
The method is d iv i ded into 4 stage s : 1 ) cont inua l l y comp a r i ng inc ident s
2 ) i nt e gr a t i ng c a t ego r i e s and prop ert i e s 3 ) d e l imi t i ng the ory
4 ) wr i t i ng the ory
i n c ident s
A s e a ch event wa s do cumented the r e s earcher r e f e r r e d b a c k to p rev i ou s event s to s e e i f c a t e g o r i e s and p r o p e rt i e s we r e b e i ng repeated or n ew o n e s g e n e ra t ed . The c at eg o ry c a rd s were expanded w i th e a ch a d d i t i o n a l ev e n t . P a t t e rn s o f r e s p o n s e s emerged qu i c k l y . F o r examp l e, vet e r i n a r i a n s repeatedly c ommented t h a t t ime wa s such a c r i t i c a l f a ctor that mo s t i n f o rma t i o n s e a rc h e s w e r e r e l ated to current p r o b l em s r a ther than i n a n t i c i p a t i o n of n e e d .
I n the e a r l y s t a g e s i t was very imp o rtant t o comp are e a c h event . Howev er, a s add i t i o n a l events were p r o c e s s e d the point o f comp a r i s o n sh i f t e d f rom an i n d iv i du a l event to a genera l i z ed event g e n erated by the c omp a r i s o n p roc e s s .
Repe ated r e s p o n s e s suggested a behav i our a l p a t t e r n . N o t o n l y d i d categ o r i e s become obv i o u s but the
i n t e rre l a t i o n of c a t e go r i e s began t o emerg e . The se i nt e rre l at i o n s were a l s o recorded as r e s e a r c h e r ' s n o t e s wh i ch, sub s eque n t l y, b e c ame hyp oth e s e s ( e g v e t e r i n a r i a n s p r e f e r i n f o rmat ion that i s imme d i a t e l y at h a n d )
W h e n the i nv e s t igat i o n began, the re s e a r c h e r h a d t o m a ke s ome a s sumpt i on s i n order t o d i re c t t h e f i r s t i n t ervi ews . H owev er, w i th the c on s t a n t c omp a r i s o n method, th e s e a s sump t i o n s were repl a ced qu i ck l y by the n ew grounded hyp othe s e s . The r e s e a rche r' s b i a s e s were e l iminated as s o on a s p o s s ib l e .
T h i s a l s o a l l owed a f i n e r focus on the a r e a o f i n qu i ry b y c o n s t a n t l y re a s s e s s ing the i nv e s t i ga t i o n . · F o r e xamp l e, i t wa s c l e a r t h a t t h e r e we re a numb e r o f c a r e e r cho i c e s ( p a r t t ime emp l oyment , s e n i o r manage r i a l p o s i t i on, e t c . ) made b y vet e r in a r i a n s wh i c h i n f l u e n c e d t h e i r s e a r c h behav i ou r . H owev e r , to i nv e s t i g a t e the i mp l i c a t i o n s of the s e dec i s i o n s was not w i th i n the s c o p e o f the s tudy . The r e f o re, the l i n e o f i nqu i r y wa s d i r e c t e d away f rom th i s p a rt i c u l a r a s p e c t .
The c o l l e c t i o n o f interv i ew events w a s term i n ated when n o n ew c a t e go r i e s or propert i e s were foun d . Not a l l the hypothe s e s were robust enough t o w i ths t a n d repeated cha l l e nge s . Tho s e that were not rep eated in s u b s equent i n t e rv i ew s w e r e e l iminated . For e xamp l e , f i n a l y e a r student s we r e - concerned about a dm i tt i n g t o the i r c l i e n t s that they d i d not know the a n swe r . Th i s w a s the o n l y group in t h e s amp l e that sha red t h i s concern . The o r i g i na l hypothe s i s , " v eterinar i a n s n e e d t o be s e e n t o k n o w everyth i n g " wa s rep l a ced w i th " a s v e t e r i n a r i a n s g a i n p e r s ona l con f idence they a r e more com f o rtab l e w i th s ay i ng - ' I d o n ' t know ' " · Hypothe s e s we r e r eworked to be a s s p e c i f i c and i n c l u s ive as po s s ib l e .
The d e c i s i o n a s to the extent o f the inve s t i g a t ion w a s n o t a s a rb i t r a ry a s i t s e emed at f i rs t . J u s t a s G l a s e r p r e d i cted , t h e data i t s e l f genera t e s the cut o f f po int . The c o l l e c t i o n o f event s wa s term i nated when no n ew c a t e g o r i e s were found and the e x i s t i ng categ o r i e s b e c ame s a turated w i th p ropert i e s ( no n ew p ropert i·e s v o l unte e red by r e s p ondent s ) . Excep t i ona l c i rcums t a n c e s h a d b e e n a c t iv e l y s ought t o t e s t t h e d u r a b i l ity o f a s s ump t i on s , a n d t h e a c cumu l ated i n f o rmat io n was s u b j e cted t o a pro c e s s of d i s t i l l at i on . Th i s r e f ined i n f o rmat i o n w a s u s ed to f o rmu l ate a sub s t a nt ive theory t h a t d e s c r i b e d the phenomenon o f i n f orma t i on gathe r i ng a n d u s e by v eter i n a r i a n s .
At the comp l et i on o f the inve s t i g a t i o n t h e r e s earcher wa s l e f t w i th :
1 ) a s e t o f c a t e g o r i e s and th e i r prop e rt i e s ,
2 ) a s et o f. hypothe s e s that i nt egrated the categ o r i e s ,
3 ) the c oncept s , l a nguage and term i n o l ogy u s ed by i n t erv i ewe es ,
4 ) th e f ocus o f the l i n e of i nquiry ,
5 ) examp l e s vet e r i n a r i a n s u s e d to d e s c r ib e s e a rch behav i ou r .
D ev e l op i n g the theory g ov e rn i ng the s e a rc h p r o c e s s was r educed to a matt er o f put t ing a l l the p i e c e s of the p u z z l e t o g ethe r . I t mu s t be rememb e r ed that the o b j e c t ive w a s to c r e a t e a the o ry , n o t to t e s t pre e x i s tent hypothe s e s . The the o ry wa s t h e n used to d e s i g n t h e qu ant i t a t ive r e s e arch nec e s s a ry t o t e s t the hypothe s e s that were s t i l l in que s t i o n . I t was p o s s ib l e to make a j udgement as to wh i ch hypoth e s e s n e ed e d quant i t a t ive c o n f i rmat i on a n d wh i ch s e emed s u f f i c i e n t l y robu s t t o be accepted w i thout f u rther
2 6 c o n f i rm a t i o n . Th i s a l l owed a much f i ner f o c u s i n the next p h a s e of the s tudy a s d e s c r ibed in chap t e r 4 .
SUMMARI ES OF THE CONTENT ANALY S I S AND COMPARI S ON OF I N - DE PTH INTERV I E W S
T h e f o l l ow i n g s umma r i e s o f t h e i nterv i ews d e s c r i be the way v e t e r i n a r i a n s pe rce ive the s e arch p r o c e s s and the
f a c t o r s i n f l u e n c ing the i r behav i our .