Exploring information seeking & sharing among doctoral peers

Description:

Doctoral students provide one another with invaluable support, ranging from academic to psychological, throughout the doctoral journey. Peers also serve as an important source of information and can be encountered in structured and unstructured environments. In structured environments, such as classrooms, peers provide information that can help with learning and improvement of skills. In unstructured environments, like informal social interactions, research has primarily examined how peers support each other in progressing through doctoral education; however, little is known about their information seeking and sharing behaviour in these contexts. This talk explores the information behaviour of Social Sciences and Humanities doctoral peers in unstructured environments. It highlights factors that influence the decision to refer to peers for information, as well as the usefulness of peers as an information source.

Speaker Bio:

Peymon Montazeri, Ph.D., is a recent graduate from McGill University’s School of Information Studies. As a qualitative researcher with a passion for understanding human behaviour and experiences, his doctoral dissertation explores the information seeking and sharing behaviour among doctoral peers. His research examines the types of information exchanged, the factors influencing the choice to turn to peers, and the usefulness of peers as a source of information. He also has a background in enterprise content management and web design, which he leverages to explore ways of enhancing the user experience of digital platforms. Outside of academia, you can find Peymon tinkering with new tech, exploring emerging tools, and constantly teaching himself new skills!