Spencer Lilley

Doctor of Philosophy, (Education)
Study Completed: 2011
College of Education

Citation

Thesis Title
The information seeking behaviours of Maori secondary school students

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Mr. Lilley’s research used Karen E. Fisher’s information grounds theory to investigate the places where Maori students congregate to obtain, share and exchange information, and the barriers they encounter when accessing information. He established that these information grounds can be found in three distinct locations: school; social situations and cultural settings. Each of these have distinct zones where information seeking and exchanges take place. His research discovered that the types of information barriers encountered by students varied according to the cultural context that information was being sought in, with the results demonstrating that those students who have a strong sense of cultural identity experience fewer barriers in either of the two cultural worlds they are part of. The study concludes with a presentation of a model, based on tikanga Maori principles, that defines the information behaviours within and between the networks that meet at the information grounds.

Supervisors
Professor Huia Jahnke