Information needs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

According to Taylor, information need has four levels:

1. The conscious and unconscious need for information not existing in the remembered experience of the investigator. In terms of the query range, this level might be called the “ideal question” — the question which would bring from the ideal system exactly what the inquirer, if he could state his need. It is the actual, but unexpressed, need for information
2. The conscious mental description of an ill-defined area of in decision. In this level, the inquirer might talk to someone else in the field to get an answer.
3. A researcher forms a rational statement of his question. This statement is a rational and unambiguous description of the inquirer’s doubts.
4. The question as presented to the information system.

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There are variables within a system that influent the question and its formation. Taylor divided them into five groups: general aspects (physical and geographical factors); system input (What type of material is put into the system, and what is the unit item?); internal organization (classification, indexing, subject heading, and similar access schemes); question input (what part do human operators play in the total system?); output (interim feedback).

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