Information Retrieval in Psychology

Hjørland, Birger (1988) Information Retrieval in Psychology. Behavioral and Social Sciences Librarian 6(3/4):pp. 39-64.

Abstract

lnformation retrieval is an important but generally neglected part of the research method in psychology. On the basis of a case study, which consists of an examination of the search strategy in a Swedish dissertation, the problems of searching are overviewed, with regard to both the selection of sources, and the construction of the secarch profile. Attention is givent to subject faceting in psychology.A model used by Psychological Abstracts in building on the concepts of experimental variables is replaced by a facet model developed on the basis of the Bliss Classification System. This model is illustrated using the above-mentioned dissertation as an example, and it is shown that the model can help in formulating search queries in psycholory. Also discussed are problems that concern the use of abstracts or full texts in the selection of documents. In addition, atteniion is given to the question of types of research in psychology that can or cannot benefit from computer-based retrievl methods.