Sense‐making, sensemaking and sense making — A systematic review and meta‐synthesis of literature in information science and education : An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) paper

Christine URGUHART*, Bonnie CHEUK, Louisa LAM, Dave SNOWDEN

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Sense-making, sensemaking, and sense making are terms used in different disciplines. Similarities of usage seem unclear. (1) to examine the concepts used in different approaches to sense-making/sensemaking/sense making; (2) to identify, classify and synthesize recent studies relevant to information science, as well as similar group on sensemaking in education research; (3) to reflect on future directions for sense-making/sensemaking methodology in information science. The objectives were to retrieve, examine, classify and perform meta-synthesis on sense-making/sensemaking studies in both information science and education research. The review used systematic review principles, with selection criteria for case studies for examination in both information science and education sets. The final meta-synthesis used a meta-ethnographic approach, together with findings of recent overviews on organizational sensemaking, and other information science reviews. Qualitative sense-making studies in information science often used Dervin's SMM (sense-making methodology) and studies in organizations and education frequently used Weick's organizational sensemaking. Different mixed methods approaches were identified. Sense-making is actively used in research and practice in information science and knowledge management. Using a coherent sense-making methodology helps and dialogic principles are useful in planning, data collection and analysis. Individual and collective sense-making are important to information science.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages95
JournalJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 18 Feb 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Information Science and Technology.

Keywords

  • Sense-making
  • sensemaking
  • sense making
  • literature review
  • systematic review

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