พฤติกรรมการแสวงหาสารสนเทศของนักศึกษาต่างชาติ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่

Abstract

This independent study on Information-seeking Behavior of Foreign Students at Chiang Mai University has 3 objectives 1) the study of foreign students’ needs and their information seeking behavior in Chiang Mai University, 2) the study of factors affecting information seeking of foreign students of Chiang Mai University, and 3) the study of guidelines for the development of information services of Chiang Mai University Library (CMUL) needed by foreign students at Chiang Mai University. The instrument used for gathering data was a questionnaire. The population studied was three groups of foreign students totaling 461 students: 255 from bachelor’s degree programs, 174 from master’s degree programs and 32 from doctoral degree programs who were enrolled in the academic year 2015. The criteria for the reliability of the questionnaire returning was at least 30 percentages. Data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics including frequency counting, percentage, mean and standard deviation. The results showed that the majority of foreign undergraduate students of Chiang Mai University, most of them used and needed general books and textbooks for the purpose of their studying. The majority graduate students used and needed information resources including e-Databases and e-Journals for conducting research. Moreover, undergraduate students and graduate students preferred to use the Main Library and their own faculty library. For information-seeking behavior, the results showed that the majority of undergraduate students used CMUL OPAC. Most of the graduate students used e-Databases. Moreover, both groups created keywords before starting searching and then they retrieved information using keyword search in basic search box. From the search results, most of them refined the search using the link in those results such as author and subject, etc. In terms of the evaluation of those two groups, the information was evaluated by an author, year of publication and content. Factors affecting information seeking according to those students showed that each factor was affected undergraduate students and graduate students. The factors with the high score in each section including: 1) English and other languages information resources were adequate 2) students were preferred to access library services online 3) students preferred to use modern and various information technology equipment 4) library staff should have the skills of English speaking and 5) library buildings and places should be easy to access.