Phenomenographic Analysis of Ph.D. Students' Understanding of the Importance and Necessity of Experiencing Information Seeking and Retrieval in the Research Process

Information seeking and retrieval is a cognitive and very complex process that is important and necessary in the research process. One of the important approaches in discovering and understanding this process is to examine the experiences of users. The purpose of this study has been to discover various models of doctoral students' experience of the importance and necessity of the phenomenon in the research process, of information seeking and retrieval to identify concepts that students describe in the form of descriptive categories and to discover relationships between categories. The approach of this study was interpretative that was carried out through a qualitative phenomenographical research method. The participants in this study were Ph.D. students in different fields at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 2019. Sampling was purposeful and criterion. The maximum diversity was considered in the sample selection and was continued until the theoretical saturation of data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 students. Interviews were implemented and analyzed through an inductive and theoretical coding method using MAXQDA12 software. The results showed that after analyzing the data collected from the interviews, three descriptive categories on how to understand and experience Ph.D. students emerged from the importance and necessity of the phenomenon of information seeking and retrieval. The first category was the information seeking and retrieval as a valuable treasure, the second category as a road full of lights, and the third category as the key to rescuing. The results showed that students considered this phenomenon in the research process important and necessary. Although this qualitative study does not aim to generalize the findings, however, according to the outcome space indicates that the phenomenon of information seeking and retrieval in the research process is of considerable necessity and importance. Therefore, this should be considered in the university's educational and research programs, and the path in which students experience this phenomenon should be paved to minimize limitations and problems. The results of this study will provide new insights into studies in the field. Suggestions have been given to the designers of the user's information system to improve the systems so that they can improve the interaction of users with the system during the search experience. It can also help IT professionals understand users' feelings and experiences so that they can better serve their students. In addition, it helps university education and research administrators recognize students' problems and limitations and take practical, purposeful, and useful steps to improve their education and research based on user experience.