Previous MSc Theses

"Trends in Mobile Communication and Information Behaviours among Scottish Teenagers." S. J. Brown. I. Ruthven. Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde. 2014. Download PDF (BibTeX) MSc Information and Library Studies

Abstract:
As mobile information and communication technology continues to develop and evolve, the information behaviours of teenagers of young people are changing rapidly. Continued study is needed to identify trends in information seeking and attitudes in this discipline.
This exploratory study sampled 17 Scottish teenagers from two separate communities. The research methods involved semi-structured interviews with each participant. The collected data was analysed using a thematic approach.
A variety of themes are identified that relate to the use of technology, particularly mobile technology, among the participants. These include the widespread use of mobile technology and attachments made to the objects themselves; Facebook use and the incidence of bullying; posting behaviour and changing concepts of personal information; advice seeking and evaluation of sources; and issues of sexting and confidence in information seeking as compared to their actual capabilities in finding information were raised by key informants as points for further exploration.