Appendix 7: Paper presented at ISIC3, 2000: Uncertainty and its correlates

The Uncertainty in Information Seeking and Searching project was carried out in 1998 and 1999 at the Universities of Sheffield and North Texas. Its aim was to test the concept of uncertainty and to explore the relationship between uncertainty and other variables in the information seeking and searching context. Reference interviews were held with 198 clients for whom on-line searches were then performed, data being collected at that stage and also, for the Sheffield clients, in a follow-up stage two months later. This paper reports on the relationships between uncertainty and a variety of other variables, including the problem-stages at which the clients found themselves, Kuhlthau's information seeking stages, and Ellis's information seeking characteristics.