The appraisal and management of uncertainty: Implications for information-retrieval systems

Highlights

• We review the prevailing discourse around the concept of uncertainty.

• We describe a communication-based theory of uncertainty management.

• We explore how this theory can inform the design of information-retrieval systems.

Abstract

Uncertainty is an important idea in information-retrieval (IR) research, but the concept has yet to be fully elaborated and explored. Common assumptions about uncertainty are (a) that it is a negative (anxiety-producing) state and (b) that it will be reduced through information search and retrieval. Research in the domain of uncertainty in illness, however, has demonstrated that uncertainty is a complex phenomenon that shares a complicated relationship with information. Past research on people living with HIV and individuals who have tested positive for genetic risk for different illnesses has revealed that information and the reduction of uncertainty can, in fact, produce anxiety, and that maintaining uncertainty can be associated with optimism and hope. We review the theory of communication and uncertainty management and offer nine principles based on that theoretical work that can be used to influence IR system design. The principles reflect a view of uncertainty as a multi-faceted and dynamic experience, one subject to ongoing appraisal and management efforts that include interaction with and use of information in a variety of forms.

Introduction

Generally speaking, information retrieval (IR) encapsulates various activities and processes associated with acquiring information from some source (Norton, 2000). The design and use of computerized IR systems – those tools that organize, represent, and provide a means to access information electronically – have always been defining interests of the library and information science (LIS) field. Over the last 50 years, different discourses on the analysis, design, and use of IR systems have emerged. In particular, scholars interested in understanding the nature and characteristics of the IR field often describe two different “orientations” or “perspectives” apparent in the accumulated literature. The first has been labeled in a number of different ways, including the “physical paradigm” (Ellis, 1992) and the “experimental mainstream tradition” (Ingwersen, 1996). At its core is the study of different IR methods – algorithms, indexes, vocabularies, representation techniques, and so on – through the use of experimental procedures in highly controlled settings. This perspective most clearly is manifested in what Ellis (1984) earlier called the IR model of a retrieval situation and what Bates (1989) later termed the classic model of IR.

The second perspective on IR research is characterized by its focus on people, their cognitive activities and accompanying affective states, and how those states and activities can be represented in IR systems. Ellis (1992) referred to it as a “cognitive paradigm” and Ingwersen (1996) spoke of a “user-oriented tradition.” Ellis (1992) explained that work grounded in this alternative approach is “united by the underlying theme that an information retrieval system should reflect in its operations, in some way or other, the cognitive world of the user” (p. 53). Ingwersen (1996) described it as a younger tradition, one “rooted in communication theory and socio-psychological methodologies” (p. 11) in which “information is understood as a result of human interpretation of data sources during communication and information interaction” (p. 12).

It is to this body of work on user-oriented approaches to IR that we seek to contribute a perspective on uncertainty from beyond the LIS field. The body of theoretical work we bring to this discussion was developed largely in the domain of health communication, specifically in studies focused on the role of communication and information in the management of health and illness. As we explain in the following, our perspective on uncertainty differs from many prevailing ideas and as such, may help cast a different light on users, IR systems, and interactions between the two. Our central thesis is that uncertainty is not something inherently negative, nor is it something always sought to be eliminated or resolved; rather, uncertainty is an object of ongoing appraisal and management. The goal of this paper is to describe how thinking about uncertainty, appraisal, emotion, and communication can influence ideas about IR systems. In the following sections, we (a) provide a brief overview of the prevailing discourse around uncertainty in the fields of communication and LIS, (b) describe a communication-based theory of uncertainty management, and (c) explore how uncertainty management principles can influence the analysis and design of IR systems. Over the course of our discussion we will use the expressions “information behavior,” “information seeking,” and “information searching” as Wilson (2000) defined them, information behavior accounting for the “totality of human behavior in relation to sources and channels of information,” information seeking referring to the “purposive seeking for information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal,” and information searching as the “‘micro-level’ of behavior employed by the searcher in interacting with information systems of all kinds” (p. 49).