Issues in student training and use of electronic bibliographic databases

In an article in this journal Ottewill and Hudson (1997) raised a number of issues concerning students’ use of electronic bibliographic databases. They emphasized the need for co‐operation between academics and librarians in database training and in coursework where databases would be used. We report a project on students’ use of bibliographic databases. Our findings reveal that access to these databases, whilst solving many of the problems students experience in sourcing reference material for coursework and research, raises new intellectual problems due to the sheer breadth and depth of their coverage of subject matter. Typically database training programmes focus on search skills and the use of different interfaces. However, our findings demonstrate that students should be encouraged to develop a more critical perspective on databases since these can be seductive, time‐consuming and, in certain circumstances, counterproductive resources. Students would benefit from more guidance on the quality cues that academics and librarians employ when evaluating different databases and their contents

The use of computers as substitute tutors for marketing students

The use of computers as substitute tutors is associated primarily, though not exclusively, with multiple‐choice question formats (Ellington, Percival and Race, 1993). We report the findings of a project that involved the design, testing and evaluation of a set of computer‐based tutorials employing multiple‐choice questions with 700 students on postgraduate and undergraduate introductory Marketing modules. The computer‐based tutorials were designed to meet two main objectives, namely to help students in their formative assessment and to help staff monitor any difficulties students were experiencing with module content. However, students incorporated the tutorials into their learning in ways that had not been anticipated specifically; they used the tutorials for a number of related but different purposes, and their usage patterns varied considerably

Transitions into poverty: An exploratory study into how families cope when faced with income reduction and limited consumption opportunities

This paper discusses transitions into poverty and the consequent effects on consumption experiences. It argues that the transitory poor, a group which has been largely neglected, offers considerable research potential on issues surrounding changes in income and consequent coping strategies in terms of both the construction of identity and the construction of poverty. Findings are drawn from families that have recently made the transition into poverty. Results indicate that the transition into poverty may reduce attachment to material possessions and lead consumers to re-evaluate what is important to them. Transitions into poverty will also have an impact on the way in which poverty is constructed as pre-transition lifestyles may be used as a point of comparison. As a result, the exchange restrictions and negative consequences associated with poverty may appear worse than they do for the long-term poor because the transitory poor have become accustomed to a higher level of consumption

Researching vulnerability: What about the researcher?

The aim of this paper is to explore researcher vulnerability and identify the ways in which research with vulnerable consumers can impact on consumer researchers. Researchers working in the domain of vulnerable consumers need to be aware that feelings of vulnerability may be reflected back to the researcher