Research Findings:
Empirical Support for the Theory of Information Poverty
As mentioned earlier, the concepts of secrecy, deception,
risk-taking, and relevance were first discovered
through anomalies. For example, in an inquiry
I conducted exploring the world of CETA women
(Comprehensive Employment and Training Act)
(Chatman, 1987), I applied opinion leadership theory. I
chose the framework because of the focus of the study,
namely, information-seeking and sharing behavior.
Based on propositions comprising the theory, it seemed
reasonable that opinion leaders (persons from whom
others sought information or advice) would be present.
The results indicated that a small number of such leaders
was found. They were, however, not engaging in information
sharing. This finding was particularly puzzling
because inherent in opinion leadership is the notion of
sharing. Reasons why this process was not occurring fell
outside the explanatory nature of the theory.