Users of the information under the phenomenological perspective: a literature review and proposed methodological approach to research

Abstract

The article aims present possible contributions of phenomenology for Information Science, especially the studies of information users, enhancing the motion to expand the boundaries of the field, as a comprehensive approach that seeks the unveiling of the phenomena in the mind of the individuals. It points out the contributions that the phenomenology can offer to studies of information behavior, specially the model of social distribution of knowledge, of Alfred Schultz, which promotes the understanding of complex social interactions, which occurred in the process of seeking and using information. Presents the methodology of an ongoing study of users to show the adoption of phenomenology as a methodological approach can contribute to such studies. It is concluded that there is a connection between the so-called social paradigm of Information Science and phenomenological perspective, since both share the view that reality is an intersubjective construction.