an investigation on information seeking behaviors of graduate students in birjand and ferdowsi universities on the basis of kuhlthau model of information search process

this paper is an attempt to study information seeking behaviors of graduate students in birjand and ferdowsi universities based on kuhlthau model of information search process. the population consists of graduate students in birjand and ferdowsi universities whose proposals were approved by graduate study councils of mentioned universities up to the end of first semester of 2008-2009 academic year. finally, 158 usable questionnaires (%66.95) of under study sample were collected.  this research was carried out in two parts. data was collected by a questionnaire in the first part and through interview in the second part. findings of both parts (through questionnaire and interview) reveal that in the process of preparing their proposals, the graduate students of both universities went through the same stages mentioned in kuhlthau model of information search process with minor differences, and they indicated corresponding feelings and thoughts approximate to those in stages of kuhlthau model. the results did not generally show any significant difference among men and women's feelings and thoughts, nor among different areas of study. therefore, it can be concluded that kuhlthau model is not dependent on special gender or study area, and it is applicable for all areas of study and both genders.