Melbourne Students & Learning - Research Publications
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ItemThe evidence-based model of information literacy research: a critique(Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University, 2007)Critiquing evidence-based practice (chapter 10) summary by Kirsty Williamson: The evidence-based model for information literacy (EBIL) is a recent development. As Melanie Lazarow says in her chapter, it is related to the also new movement towards evidence-based library and information practice. This, in its turn, owes its origins to evidence-based medical practice which began in the 1970s although, in the case of IL, there is more emphasis on filling the gaps in quality research availability rather than making more use of research evidence as is the case in the medical field. While she acknowledges the importance of evidence to all fields, Lazarow raises issues about the EBIL model which she says ‘draws in questions of qualitative versus quantitative research, how cultural meaning is produced, what constitutes evidence and the way the paradigm is used politically’ (p.171) The research method perspective is important because evidence-based practice favours quantitative approaches giving precise answers. On the other hand, as Lazarow says, the EBIL approach tends to limit the questions that can be asked to pragmatic ones that are easily answered with measurement. Questions with greater social, cultural and political complexities tend not to be easily investigated using the EBIL model. This is a thought-provoking chapter that also pays attention to philosophical relationships in the research landscape and therefore extends some of the discussion from earlier chapters in this book.