Information seeking and reading ability among sixth grade children

Includes bibliographical references (pages 19-20)Mean and correlation analyses were used to investigate the relationship between reading ability and information seeking among 76 sixth grade children. The two variables studied were reading ability and information seeking. The information seeking was determined by administering to each subject individually a decision task consisting of nine stages of information which ranged from complete uncertainty at the beginning to complete certainty at the end. Substantial point pay-off for giving an answer during the first stages of information was used to prevent the subjects from waiting to receive all stages of information before giving an answer. The reading ability of each subject was determined by the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills in October, 1971. The information seeking was measured by the decision task. No significant relationship was found between reading ability and information seeking in the high reading group. A significant relationship between reading ability and information seeking was obtained in the low reading group. The lack of significance in the high group can be explained by the fact that the group sampled happened to contain subjects deviating less from the mean than subjects in the low reading group. Variables which were not considered in this study but which no doubt play a role in a relationship between reading ability and information seeking consisted of the conceptual structure of the subject, personality factors, decision consequences, IQ, and problem solving strategies