Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Using ethnography to investigate life scientists' information needs

D E Forsythe1

  • 1Medical Anthropology Program, University of California, San Francisco 94143-0850, USA.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association
|July 29, 1998
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Implementing computers in ambulatory care: implications of physician practice patterns for system design.

Proceedings : a conference of the American Medical Informatics Association. AMIA Fall Symposium·1997
Same author

New bottles, old wine: hidden cultural assumptions in a computerized explanation system for migraine sufferers.

Medical anthropology quarterly·1996
Same author

Secretion of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) by postnatal rabbit alveolar macrophages.

Pediatric research·1995
Same author

An intelligent interactive system for delivering individualized information to patients.

Artificial intelligence in medicine·1995
Same author

Support for information management in critical care: a new approach to identify needs.

Proceedings. Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care·1995
Same author

Expanding the concept of medical information: an observational study of physicians' information needs.

Computers and biomedical research, an international journal·1992
Same journal

Further comments on the mathematical analysis of evaluating scientific journals.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
Same journal

The medical library of St. Luke's Hospital, Chicago.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
Same journal

Tanned human skin.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
Same journal

A short classification of medical literature.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
Same journal

Yellow fever in New York City.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
Same journal

The war and the medical library.

Bulletin of the Medical Library Association·2010
See all related articles

Understanding the specific information needs of life scientists is challenging due to varying professional knowledge and unarticulated background information. Ethnographic research methods offer valuable insights into these complex information requirements.

Area of Science:

  • Information Science
  • Medical Informatics
  • Anthropology

Background:

  • Designing effective information resources requires a deep understanding of user information needs.
  • The diverse nature of professional knowledge across disciplines, including life sciences, complicates the accurate identification of these needs.
  • Implicit assumptions and field-specific terminology present challenges for developers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the necessity of specialized research methods for understanding life scientists' information needs.
  • To explore the application and benefits of ethnographic techniques in this domain.
  • To detail the insights gained from an ethnographic perspective on clinicians' information-seeking behaviors.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing ethnographic techniques, a methodology rooted in anthropology for studying real-world settings.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Applying these methods to investigate the information needs of clinicians.
  • Analyzing the author's practical experience with ethnographic studies in a clinical context.

    • Main Results:

    • Ethnography provides a robust framework for investigating complex, real-world information needs.
    • This approach reveals nuanced aspects of information seeking that traditional methods might overlook.
    • The study identified specific types of information sought by clinicians during their daily practice.

    Conclusions:

    • Ethnographic research is essential for accurately capturing the information requirements of specialized professional groups like life scientists.
    • An ethnographic perspective enhances the development of targeted and effective information resources.
    • Understanding the context and background knowledge is crucial for meeting clinicians' information needs.