Abstract:
Introduction. Reports findings from research in progress investigating judgment and
decision making during information seeking in the workplace, in particular, the assessment
of enough information. Characteristics of this judgment and the role of context in shaping
it are framed against theories of human judgment and decision making.
Method. Thirty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with public sector policy
workers in Australia. Two interviews were carried out, the first with individual
participants and the second, a joint interview with two participants. Interviews were taped
and transcribed and inductive data analysis carried out.
Findings. Findings discussed in this paper focus on contextual factors that frame policy
workers' judgment and decision making while information seeking, factors including
ill-structured problems, shifting goals, time stress and action-feedback loops. Also
revealed was the importance of developing a framework, against which the judgment of
enough information can be made, and the fluid and iterative nature of these judgments.
Conclusion. The contextual factors reported show similarities with those identified by
naturalistic decision making researchers, suggesting this new field of decision theory has
much to offer researchers into information seeking in context.
