1996 Survey of User Information Needs and Search Methods Results

2 Survey Methodology

Phase 1 of the consultation process was carried out in two stages:

Research Design and Implementation. Refer to Appendix A for further details.

The following groups were identified as key members of the potential user population:

COMMUNITY A
Within art, design, architecture and media departments of HE, FE and other relevant institutions
- teaching and research staff
- students
- librarians (working within central facilities of the above institutions or within relevant departments)

COMMUNITY B
Museum curators

COMMUNITY C
Practitioners (practising designers, architects, film and video producers and others)

Within the three communities, a nonprobability method of sampling was used in order to draw a representative sample of the user population.

In the absence of a reasonable sample frame for the total population, from which to draw a probability sample, selection was judgmental. The degree of variable and systematic selection error on this type of sample can be reduced through careful selection and can be substantially less than the variable error present in a Simple Random Sample of similar size.

The potential user community was divided into subgroups and from each sub-group a separate sample was drawn, thereby stratifying the population. The research aimed to obtain equivalent respondents, not identical sample frames within each subgroup.

The following subject areas were identified in the ADAM Project Proposal and therefore, constituted the main sub-groups for the purposes of the Survey:

• Fine Art - including painting, prints and drawings, sculpture and other contemporary media including those using technology
• Design - including industrial, product, fashion, graphic, packaging and interior design
• Architecture - including town planning and landscape design, but excluding building construction
• Applied Arts - including textiles, ceramics, glass, metals, jewellery, furniture
• Media - including film, television, broadcasting, photography, animation
• Theory - historical, philosophical and contextual studies relating to any other category
• Museum studies and conservation

2.2 Data Collection Methods

Data was gathered by means of a set of survey questions, distributed in three formats:
- as a questionnaire on paper. 5000 copies were distributed to named contacts, during May 1996.
- as a questionnaire distributed via email
- as an on-line form via the World Wide Web

A number of strategies were employed with the aim of maximising response rate, details of which are included in Appendix B.

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