A Qualitative Study on Stimulus and Barriers of Information-Seeking Behavior of Counselling MA Students

Abstract

The information-seeking behavior is compared with intellectual problem solving process. Information-seeking from clients is an important part of counseling process. The aim of this study was scrutinizing the information-seeking behavior of counseling students. The method of study was qualitative. The sampling was made criterion based and the information-seeking from volunteer counseling students of Allameh Tabataba'i University in 2013 continued until the suffusion of information and there were no new theme added. Information was gathered by open ended questions. The students' responses were analyzed and turned into information units and each unit (sub themes) was named. The sub themes were converted into a number of themes and categories. The results showed that the main motivation behind the information-seeking behavior of counseling students was internal requirement. The main obstacles on the way of the research were lack of resources, lack of access to information-seeking behavior and an inability to take advantage of non- Persian sources, and lack of time.

Keywords

• information-seeking behavior
• information seeking stimuli
• information-seeking barriers
• internal requirement