Information networks: Investigating the information behaviour of Mongolia's urban residents

This study investigated the everyday information behaviour of people in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Using a social network perspective this research focused on the social networks of respondents and how the characteristics of their networks and the relationships between respondents and their network members influenced their access to information. The research involved two data collection techniques: (1) a questionnaire, which collected data on the social networks of 313 respondents and their information seeking strategies; and (2) in-depth interviews with 18 respondents who had completed the questionnaires.; The questionnaire included two methods to collect network data—a name generator and a position generator. Demographic and relational data were collected on all the contacts named by the respondents. This made it possible to evaluate the factors that affect who respondents approach when seeking information. Findings from the study showed that respondents chose people as information sources who were significantly different from themselves and from other people in their networks. They also had better quality resources in terms of education and employment status. This suggests that the choice of personal sources of information was not for convenience or “least effort” reasons but was deliberate, as the respondents searched for the best people available who could help with their information problem.; This study was conducted within the framework of the theory of social capital. The main hypothesis for this study was: successful search outcomes, measured by usefulness of the information and satisfaction with the information found, are positively correlated to social capital as measured by network reach and network diversity. The findings partially support this hypothesis. Network reach was associated with finding useful information. The type of problems experienced by the respondents was the strongest predictor of the information source chosen to resolve the problem. Social capital, however, also influenced respondents' ability to choose the best sources. People with poor social capital tended to choose media sources, which were least likely to have successful outcomes. The findings from the study indicate the important role played by social networks and social capital in everyday information behaviour.