CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Dervin, B. (1999). On studying information seeking methodologically: The implications of connecting metatheory to method. Information Processing and Management, 35, 727-750.
© Elsevier Service Ltd. (1999).

ABSTRACT:
The purpose I have mandated for this article is to explore the implications of articulating the bridges that are built, usually implicitly, between metatheory and method, and between these and their ultimate interests, the doing of research. The purpose is to articulate the uses of methodology. To chart this as a mandate is to assume, in contradiction to extant wisdom, that: (a) the journey has not yet been fully mapped; and (b) in fact there are multiple and ever-changing ways of bridging these gaps with no one agreed upon single set of criteria by which the results can be evaluated. Above these assumptions is a higher level assumption that impels this journey—that taking an explicitly and self-consciously methodological approach is necessary to the improvement of the enterprise of systematic study. [This article with additional material reprinted as Sense-Making’s journey from metatheory to methodology to method: An example using information seeking and use as research focus.  Reprinted in: B. Dervin & L. Foreman-Wernet (with E. Lauterbach) (Eds.). (2003). Sense-Making Methodology reader: Selected writings of Brenda Dervin ]

TO OBTAIN FULL TEXT:
You may request access to the full text URL by completing this form. (This will open a new window.)

For more information on Information Processing and Management, as well as ordering information, see: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/infoproman
For information on ScienceDirect, which offers access to 1200+ journals covering all fields of science, see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/

OTHER MATERIALS BY THIS AUTHOR ON THIS WEB SITE:
See:  http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistdervin.html