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. 1999 Oct;87(4):444–450.

Theories for practitioners: two frameworks for studying consumer health information-seeking behavior.

L M Baker 1, K E Pettigrew 1
PMCID: PMC226619  PMID: 10550029

Abstract

Consumer health information studies in library and information science (LIS) are typically not grounded within a theoretical framework. This article explains the importance of theory to LIS research in general, and the specific value of using theories from other disciplines to study consumers' health information-seeking behavior. The argument is supported with two examples: Miller's psychological theory of blunting and monitoring behavior and Granovetter's sociological theory of the strength of weak ties. These theories can be applied by practitioner-researchers to investigate a variety of research problems.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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