Identifying the components of collaborative information-seeking behavior of researchers regarding indigenous knowledge (case study: Turkmen Sahara region)

Abstract

Objective: The ever-increasing acceleration of the transformation of sciences in various fields and the expansion of information and communication has increased the growth of creative, efficient and motivated human resources that can move simultaneously with these developments. In fact, the process of searching for information is one of the most basic categories related to human resources. Considering that most of the research done in this field has been focused on the behavior of individual information and more attention has been paid to its cooperative aspect. There is an urgent need to understand the conceptual features of this behavior and its technical support methods in cooperative activities. In the current research, by conducting a research in the Turkmen Sahara region, which has a very high capacity in the field of indigenous knowledge, researchers will be identified and the appropriate model for managing this knowledge will be presented. Therefore, despite the researches taken, the need to conduct more researches is felt. Considering the mentioned and important cases and the fact that such a research has not been done in the Turkmen Sahara, this research has aspects of innovation and it seems necessary to do it. On the other hand, the researchers hope that the results of this research will provide valuable information to those in charge, and by using the results, they will provide a better use of the researchers in the Turkmen Sahara region. The main goal of the current research is to investigate the components of information-seeking behavior of researchers' participation in the Turkmen Sahara region regarding indigenous knowledge.

Methodology: The method of this research is applied in terms of purpose, qualitative method and based on thematic analysis. In the present research, the statistical population is all experts and experts who are familiar with local knowledge and cooperative information-seeking behavior of the Turkmen Sahara region, and the sample size is 13 experts and experts. Sampling continued without any restrictions with the snowball sampling method (each researcher introduces the next person) in the number of participants until theoretical saturation was reached. To collect data, semi-structured interviews were used to identify components and sub-components, and in this regard, after obtaining the necessary permits, necessary coordination was made with the interviewees, and a copy of the interview protocol and questions was already available to prepare answers to the questions. The interviewees were placed. Then the researcher arrived at the workplace of the interviewees at the appointed time and conducted interviews for 30 to 60 minutes. And finally, MAXQDA software was used for coding and analysis.

Findings: The findings of the research showed that in the first stage, the primary themes of the interviews were categorized with the qualitative research method (Halil Taman) according to the principles of the research. Based on the steps of thematic analysis method, for data analysis, the text of the interviews was carefully read several times and then the obtained data were coded line by line to examine the basic concept. A large number of codes came up, going back through the initial codes, by reviewing the initial codes, common and semantically similar items were combined, as they tried to categorize these factors, after the concept of complete construction and so on. The coding was done. , it was time to categorize or place the indicators as a result. In this way, after coding the initial interviews, the initial identification codes that after removing the conceptual and co-conceptual concepts, the conceptual concept became 54 basic concepts. According to the opinion of the researcher and 4 doctoral students in information science and epistemology, the themes reached 32 basic themes, 9 organizing themes and 3 comprehensive themes.

Conclusion: The results showed that the components of the conscious behavior of the participation of researchers in the Turkmen Sahara region show that culture, traditions, ethnic and linguistic types, limited access to information sources, valuing local knowledge and cooperation with local communities, all as background factors. and acts as an interventionist and requires the necessary strategies to use and protect this knowledge. The use of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods by creating comprehensive insights in the development and continuous improvement of researches has led to the participation of local people and trust between them and researchers. The results of the research, which include increasing knowledge and awareness, improving the quality of help and assistance to the natives, not only contribute to ecosystem and cultural sustainability, but also promise a positive and fruitful future for ecological research in the region through increasing the accuracy and depth of research. This is an indication of the great value of native knowledge in research processes, which should be given attention and support as a part of the spiritual and intellectual capital of any society.