Paper presented at the European Conference of Educational Research, Crete, 22-25 September 2004.
Lithuanian Researchers as Users of the Internet: Looking for Positive Changes
Tautkeviciene, Gintare; Juceviciene, Palmira; Markeviciene, Aukse
Institute of Educational Studies at Kaunas University of Technology
Abstract
Rapid development of IT ensures increasingly effective communication of scientific information. At the same time, an exponential growth of information raises new problems: it is easy to get lost among such a supply of information and to trace reliable and high quality information. To solve this urgent problem, it is essential to create efficient information search means, to expand an array of services provided by information specialists, and to seek greater efficacy in integrating informational and educational services. The current presentation aims at providing evidence to show that the integration of informational and educational services at the university enables higher effectiveness of information databases. The methodology of the research has been grounded in the concept of a learning environment which enables an individual to recognize any environment as his/her learning environment. If the environment is charged with relevant educational aims, the individual attributes more learning possibilities to it. A database, created by the PERINE (Pedagogical and Educational Research Information Network for Europe) project and intended for researchers and Ph.D. candidates, has served as an environment for such learning. This learning environment is considered to be relevant for scientific research, since any process of knowledge creation is grounded in researcher's learning, comprised of analyzing knowledge created by others and creating one's own knowledge (Martin, Bowden, 1998). The paper introduces the results of the investigation carried out in the frame of PERINE in 2002 through 2004. The results reveal the practices of researchers' information search and the change in these habits during the given period. The work presents the results of a case study carried out at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) in 2004. Research results reveal how Lithuanian researchers use IT-based information databases. Field research was carried out in the context of the problems raised. It was presented as a case study of doctoral studies in educational science at KTU: Ph.D. candidates were assigned a task to be best completed using a PERINE database. The results of the survey presented allow the substantiation of the aim raised by the presentation.
Introduction
The development of IT and the expansion of the Internet is a warrant for effective communication of scientific information which becomes accessible in a place where an individual studies or works. Search of the necessary information requires less and less time. At the same time, however, exponential growth of information amount raises new problems, since great quantities may cause disorientation which often prevents from finding reliable high quality information. Solving this topical problem, it is especially important to help researchers orient among this load of information. Therefore, firstly, effective means for information search have to be created and, secondly, information and educational services, provided by information specialists, have to be expanded.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the experience of Lithuanian scholars of education in their usage of the Internet, the shift in their habits during a certain time-span, and the influence of educational impact when assessing services provided by the Internet. The section of a quantitative study analyses the following questions: for what purposes and how often do Lithuanian scholars in education use the Internet in their daily work; what means of data search do they use when looking for information; how do they prognosticate their work with the Internet in the future; how has the use of the Internet changed from 2002 through 2004; how is the experience of Lithuanian scholars different from that of foreign researchers participating in the project? The second part of the presentation introduces the evaluation of PERINE database by Ph.D. students.
Methods of quantitative survey and study participants
The article introduces the results of the usage of information services on the Internet by researchers in educational science. The research was carried out in three steps: the first, in 2001, in the United Kingdom and Denmark; the second, in spring of 2002 – in Austria, Denmark, United Kingdom, Italy, Lithuania, Switzerland, Hungary, and Germany; the third, in spring of 2004, - in all eight countries. In addition, some data is being compared with the results obtained in other countries.
Lithuanian project partners implemented their research at the Institute of Educational Studies and the University Library, Kaunas University of Technology. Researchers and teachers who carry out the investigation in educational science have been interrogated. Scholars in education, namely, 128 respondents at nine Lithuanian universities have been surveyed in 2002, and 148 interrogated in 2004. A questionnaire ”Using the Internet for educational research”, prepared by S. Manning in 2000, was used for the research. The questions for the survey, carried out in 2002 and in 2004 were almost identical, only some questions were slightly modified. Specifically, a block of questions about the start point of information search was omitted, questions about using specific databases were modified, and a question on using a PERINE database was added in 2004.
The questionnaire consists of the following blocks of questions:
-demographic (6 questions): age, gender, professional status, work experience;
-experience in using the Internet (4 questions, 2 open among them);
-attitude towards the Internet as a source of information (9 statements);
-usage of the Internet at work – at the time and in the future (36 statements);
-factors influencing the use of the Internet (7 statements);
-sources of information used (15 statements).
The data has been processed using the SPSS software. The methods of descriptive statistics have been used; Mann-Whitney criterion was applied for determining statistically significant differences.
Table 1
Characteristics of Lithuanian respondents: research of 2002 and 2004
2002 (LT), % / 2004 (LT), % / 2002 (P), % / 2004 (P), %Age
<35 / 35,2 / 46,6 / 15,7 / 20,9
35-50 / 45,3 / 40,5 / 40,9 / 42,0
>50 / 19,5 / 12,8 / 43,4 / 37,1
Gender
Female / 75,0 / 68,2 / 52,1 / 51,6
Male / 25,0 / 31,8 / 47,9 / 48,4
Primary workplace
higher education / 96,9 / 84,5 / 66,6 / 61,9
school / 2,3 / 6,8 / 6,8 / 13,9
other / 0,8 / 8,7 / 26,6 / 24,2
Professional status
senior / 26,6 / 26,4 / 46,1 / 42,2
intermediate / 40,6 / 21,6 / 33,6 / 35,5
junior / 32,8 / 52 / 20,3 / 22,4
The analysis of socio-demographic characteristics and their comparison with the average characteristics of all the survey respondents has revealed certain differences. The distribution of respondents according to major socio-demographic characteristics greatly varies, especially along the lines of age and professional status. Among Lithuanian respondents, researchers of younger age and comparatively lower status dominated which might have been determined by sharp changes occurring in the country, related to economic transformations and to the change in higher education. Besides, a fundamental cause may be an explosive development of IT. Unlike Western Europe which had had quite a long time to get acquainted with IT, Lithuania and its scholars assimilated IT and the Internet rather rapidly. Consequently, young professionals were able to deal with these processes more quickly and to employ IT for information search more efficiently. As for the older researchers, among the barriers to their IT acquisition were not only technological obstacles, but also foreign language barriers, since most of the information on the Internet is in the English language. It is common knowledge that for many decades the priority in Lithuania was given to the Russian language, and older researchers have been uncomfortable about their insufficient English skills. Thus, the reasons above have determined low participation of senior researchers of higher status in the survey.
Research results
The analysis of research results allows to state that the number of Internet users in Lithuania has increased in about 25 percent since 2002. The investigation results have allowed diagnosing statistically significant differences (p=0,001) which occurred from 2002 through 2004. The development of IT stands as a major cause; however, increasing informational competence of IT users and the necessity to satisfy the need for information using the Internet stand as other important reasons. Current distribution of the frequency of using the Internet is very close to the tendencies in other countries surveyed.
Table 2
Experience in using the Internet
2002 (LT) / 2004 (LT) / 2002 (P) / 2004 (P)Internet use
on a daily basis / 52,3 / 79,1 / 66,3 / 83
occasional / 33,6 / 15,5 / 26,8 / 15
rare / 13,3 / 4,7 / 6,2 / 1,8
Internet competence
expert / 11,7 / 6,8 / 13,4 / 18,3
capable user / 32,8 / 52,7 / 49,9 / 56,3
user / 43,8 / 33,8 / 29,8 / 23,3
novice / 11,7 / 6,8 / 7 / 2,1
A major part of scholars in educational science feel convinced that the Internet has changed their work. An equal number of respondents think that the Internet will be very important in their work in the future and will influence their activities (Picture 1). Researchers agree that the Internet is an excellent means for information search and for the dissemination of research results.
Picture 1. The influence of the Internet upon researchers’ work
A comparative analysis of the research results obtained in 2002 and in 2004 has revealed that the opinion of scholars about the Internet and information sources available there remains almost unchanged. Most of them think that the Internet is an excellent means for communicating scientific information and for disseminating research results.
Similarly to 2002, in 2004 researchers still think that the amounts of information on the Internet are not too abundant and finding the data is not difficult. The number of supporters of this view has been increasing (p=0,023). Unfortunately, this opinion stands in contrast to the statements of information specialists and librarians who claim that finding relevant and reliable information on the Internet is relatively difficult and it now requires certain competence. This paradox has been revealed when analyzing the results of the survey in 2002 (Saunders, Tajalli, Monty, 2002), and the tendency remains in 2004. Such a discrepancy in the evaluations of information consumers and information specialists should be analyzed as a separate research object. Nevertheless, scholars admit that the quality of information on the Internet does cause a problem; therefore, a purposeful collection of educational links and improved means for information search would effectively substantiate the process (Picture 2).
Picture 2. Researchers’ opinions about information on the Internet
The analysis on researchers’ successful usage of the sources on the Internet has revealed that Lithuanian scholars most often use this media for the following: finding sources for research, finding conference information, finding the news, finding materials for teaching, and getting information about other educational institutions (Picture 3).
Picture 3. The most successful use of the Internet
The least successful is: publishing research results, finding expertise, finding research partners, other publishing, as well as the Internet as a part of e-learning platform (Picture 4). Such results have revealed the fact that the search of information among the scholars is purposeful and closely related with the retrieval of scientific and teaching information. At the same time, however, it is evident that the scholars are interested in finding information, but not inclined to share this information with others, publishing research results on the Net. As a matter of fact, similar results have been obtained during the research carried out by the Institute of Educational Studies at Kaunas University of Technology (Juceviciene, Virzintaite, 2003). Such a situation in Lithuania has been determined by the evaluation of scientific activities which considers only publications in cited sources that are not usually freely available on the Internet.
Picture 4. The least successful use of the Internet
Statistically significant differences in evaluation, comparing the research of 2002 and 2004 in Lithuania, have been noted in the following cases: finding sources for research (p=0,013), finding conference information (p=0,036), finding project management sources (p=0,016), arranging travels (p=0,05), and finding materials for administration (p=0,015). In all the cases, the evaluation of the above statements has increased. Similar tendencies are peculiar to other countries investigated too. However, Lithuanian scholars less consider the Internet as a relevant publishing means. This might have been influenced by the general situation and development of e-publishing in Lithuania, still in the phase of creation. Specifically, on the state level, the analysis of e-publishing possibilities in our country has been carried out in 2003; relevant documents regulating e-publishing have been prepared and a full text database of Masters’ Thesis and Ph.D. dissertations has been initiated ( Unfortunately, on the individual level, e-publishing does not enjoy popularity and is not valued in assessing research activities.
Prognoses for the usage of the Internet in the future have revealed a positive attitude towards the Internet as an information source. Considering all the areas of information search, scholars foresee the growth of the Internet role. The first five statements nearly correspond to scholars’ choices on looking for information on the Internet that is, finding sources for research in the future, finding conference information in the future, finding materials for teaching, finding research results in the future, and finding news in the future.
The usage of the Internet in the future has been least prognosticated for: other publishing in the future, publishing results in the future, arranging travel in the future, finding materials/sources for administration, and for the Internet as a part of e-learning platform in the future (Picture 5). As a matter of fact, such findings reflect current priorities of research activities and a real situation in Lithuania. For instance, scholars claim, they are not planning to use the Internet for teaching and e-learning in the future, because this form of learning is still not popular in the country.
Picture 5. The use of the Internet in the future
The research carried out allows to conclude that scholars are inclined to choose more universal means of information expression rather than specialized, which was proved by the investigation in 2002. This conclusion is rather astonishing, since specialized internet portals and databases contain information sources collected and evaluated by scholars in education; nevertheless, researchers use these sources very rarely, if at all. As a matter of fact, the situation has not changed since 2002. The answers of Lithuanian respondents have revealed that very few scholars in education use specialized databases for educational science or subject portals. Namely, 37 percent of the respondents use Education-line, 30 percent – ERIC, and 18 percent – EURYDICE. It is important to note that similar results have been obtained in other countries surveyed, too. Specifically, in some countries ERIC enjoys a greater percent of usage, for instance, 89,3 percent in UK, 65,8 percent – in Denmark, 52,1 percent – in Hungary, and in some – less, for instance, only 4,6 percent in Italy (Pic. 6). It can be partially explained by the need to use information in a national language and by insufficient users’ competence in English. Quite a high level of reference to national information sources proves the fact that the priority is given to the data in national languages in most countries which participated in the research. This has also been the case in Lithuania where researchers give priority to national websites or databases: state, government, and university websites, national and local databases (Picture 7).
Picture 6. The use of international internet resources
Picture 7. The use of national e-resources
In the opinion of scholars, a better structure of information (87 percent) and the access to greater amounts of relevant information (84 percent) would increase the use of the Internet. In the process of information search, a specialized information portal would be useful (84 percent). It should be noted that information search for personal development has been given less attention by researchers: special courses for information search and specialists’ consultations are considered useful by less than 50 percent of the respondents (Picture 8).
Picture 8. Means facilitating the use of the Internet
To conclude, it should be noted that researchers do not pay sufficient attention to subject databases and portals when searching for information. They give the priority to national sources of information on the Internet as well as specialized lists of links.
On the basis of the results of this comparative study, it should be stated that users of the Internet in different countries are distinguished by specific individual, cultural, and national features. The quantitative research allows us to detect certain tendencies of using the Internet, but does not reveal the reasons for such behavior of information users.
The use and evaluation PERINE of database
Creation of the PERINE database ( has been related to the aspiration to help researchers get access to relevant scientific information providing a possibility to carry out information search in multi-national sources using a national language. The PERINE database started operating in September 2003. It has been constantly supplemented with new data, but it is still in the phase of creation, therefore, the list of topics is still limited.
The research of 2004, carried out by Lithuanian partners, has revealed that only 15 percent of scholars, 22 persons, have used this database more than once. They all consider it useful. The rest of the respondents have never used this source of information, but they also think it should be beneficial to scholars of education. The percentage of using the PERINE database varies from country to country: for instance, it is 46,8 in Austria and 42,4 – in Germany.
Lithuanian researchers were given extra questions in order to find out the evaluation of the PERINE database and to comment on its possible usefulness for them in the future. From 148 respondents who were asked to evaluate the database, 81 provided answers which have revealed that it enjoys positive evaluations.
90 out of 148 scholars have answered the question, if the PERINE database could be useful for them in the future, and the majority think positively. A smaller part of the respondents have answered negatively. Such answers inspired a qualitative survey to be carried out in order to see the assessment of this database. Eight Ph.D. candidates were asked to carry out the analysis of the database following a special task, namely, they were asked