If “information” is a central concept for library and information science, then “questions” are fundamental, for information “informs” relative to the question. But research focusing on questions as a central theoretical concept has been stymied by the paradox of the question, which observes that in order to ask one must know enough to know what one does not know (Flammer, 1981). This dissertation proposes that this paradox results from the limitations of the cognitive approach to questions as indications of individual information need, and that the paradox can be resolved by reframing questions as social epistemological tools of inquiry within knowledge domains. The questions posed by three knowledge domains – neuroscience, literature, and computer engineering – on the common topic of “memory” are analyzed in order to investigate how the domains’ question formulations compare and what the comparisons convey about how to answer and the assumptions upon which question and answer are constructed. A method is developed for identifying the implicit questions that motivate and organize scholarly inquiry by analyzing dissertation abstracts as knowledge products of inquiry. The comparative question analysis of neuroscience, literature, and computer engineering dissertations’ question formulations about “memory” supports the proposition that knowledge domains ask different questions and ask them differently. What they ask, the content of their questions, communicates the indeterminate epistemic situation that each domain has of memory, while the mode of presentation of the question, its form, conveys the epistemic structure of inquiry and the production of knowledge. A social epistemological model of domains’ question formulations is developed that proposes that question content reflects domain ontologies, question form reflects domain epistemologies, and determinations of question relevance reflect domain sociality, which model has implications for document relevance, question negotiation, information retrieval design, and inquiry-based learning.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_7255
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 363 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Memory
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Information retrieval
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Hannah Kwon
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.