Development and validation of a tool to predict information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Information seeking behaviour is a set of actions expressing information needs, searching, evaluating, selecting, and utilizing information. This study aimed to develop and validate a tool to measure the information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Final year students and the students, who had completed four years of study in the academic programme in medical faculties in universities of Colombo, Kelaniya, Peradeniya, and Eastern University in Sri Lanka were invited for the study. The elements of information seeking behaviour were defined by thentatically analyzing the content of nine focus group discussions with medical undergraduates of the four faculties. The scale was developed based on the Integrated Behavioural Model. The preliminary scale had 60 items and was pretested. The responses ofa field test with the participation of 436 medical undergraduates were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and psychometric analysis. The tool was refined to include 40 items, and the revised version was administered to 645 medical undergraduates. The 40-item tool supported the good model fit using the absolute fit indices (RMSEA= 0.053, SRMR=0.066). The sub-components of the 40-item tool partially matched with the theoretical framework. The reliability of the entire tool was acceptable (Cronbach’s α = (0.744) and domain levels were in the low to the acceptable range. The internal consistency of the domains; “Intention” (Cronbach’s α = 0.634), “Habit” (Cronbach’s α = 0.561) and “Knowledge & skills” (Cronbach’s α = 0.540) was acceptable in reliability and the domains of “Environmental Constraints” (Cronbach’s α = 0.470) and “Salience” (Cronbach’s α = 0.438) was low in reliability in the 40-item tool. The finalized 40-item tool named ‘Kelaniya Measure of Information Seeking Behaviour’ (KMISB) demonstrated an acceptable level of psychometric rigour in terms of XXV ate reliability and structural validity. KMISB can be used to evaluate and predict information seeking behaviour of medical undergraduates effectively. It facilitates identifying the best practices of information seeking and improving the quality of ae higher education.