Critical Incident Technique

QUT Digital Repository: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/

Hughes, Hilary and Williamson, Kirsty and Lloyd, Annemaree (2007) Critical incident technique. In: Lipu, Suzanne, (ed) Exploring methods in information literacy research. Topics in Australasian Library and Information Studies, Number 28 . Centre for Infromation Studies, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W., pp. 49-66.

© Copyright 2007 (The authors) Posted with the permission of the copyright owner for your personal use only. No further distribution is permitted without permission of the copyright owner.

Critical Incident Technique Hilary Hughes 2007

Chapter 4: Exploring methods in information literacy research

S. Lipu, K. Willimason and A. Lloyd (Eds.)

Introduction

What are the key attributes of an effective IL educator? What difficulties do students encounter in using online information resources? These are the types of qualitative questions that Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is well suited to exploring. This chapter outlines the origins, ongoing development, implementation, advantages and disadvantages of Critical Incident Technique and its potential for information literacy research. I draw on my current research into international students’ use of online information resources to demonstrate the application of CIT in an information literacy context.

Overview of critical incident technique (CIT)

Defining CIT Critical incident technique (CIT) is a well proven qualitative research approach that offers a practical step-by-step approach to collecting and analysing information about human activities and their significance to the people involved. It is capable of yielding rich, contextualized data that reflect real-life experiences. Its creator John Flanagan described it as:

A set of procedures for collecting direct observations of human behavior in such a way as to facilitate their potential usefulness in solving practical problems and developing broad psychological principles. The...