Balance or Bias? Information Selection for the Researcher Available to Purchase

Argues that the growing availability of information, especially from electronic sources, offers both potential and problems for the researcher. Increasingly, information has become a commodity,commissioned for a specific purpose and shaped to fit the needs of the commissioner. It follows that user requirements will dictate not just the research remit (what information to collect) but also the selection criteria (why the information is needed). Establishing why information is needed is an integral step in deciding on the particular focus or slant that any search strategy, and subsequent information analysis,must take. A comprehensive, or indeed a balanced, collection of information may be neither necessary nor desirable. End users may only require information that will support their information need. Choice of information sources will also be governed by these information needs,and their selection is a vital factor in the provision of useful,relevant information and its successful communication to the end user.