بررسي رفتارهاي اطلاع يابي اعضاي هيات علمي دانشكده هاي پزشكي

A Survey of Information-Seeking Behaviour of the Academics in Iranian Medical Universities

The present study has been aimed at the information seeking behaviour of the academics in Iranian medical universities. The data for this survey were collected through questionnaires, statistically analysed by the SPSS software. The results of the study show that research questions are initially conceived by medical researchers through visiting patients, reading medical textbooks, reviewing patientsʹ medical records, observing patientsʹ para-clinical results and finally, questions raised by their students. The findings also reveal that after the conception of the research subject, the academic members of Iranian medical universities use the following sources: the Internet, medical journals, contacting friends and colleagues, databases available in libraries, indexes, abstracts and references made by their colleagues. The criteria for choosing sources include their validity, appropriateness, being updated, readability and availability. The article also discusses different methods of locating required resources, updating the information, major obstacles on the way of obtaining necessary data, and different methods of collecting data and information.