3.1. Theoretical research in information behaviour

Several Japanese researchers have proposed new theories and models on IB to construct a theoretical foundation for IB research. Typical examples include research on ‘understanding’ of information needs and uses by ^{Itoga (1991}, ¹⁹⁹²), ‘information behavioural grammar model’ by ^Miwa(2000, ²⁰⁰¹), and a series of studies on IB focused on the social aspect by the research group headed by Shunsaku Tamura. These are all characterised by a human-centred, holistic view that aims to simultaneously handle the actor's perceptions and social context.

^{Itoga (1991}) noted a paradigm shift in information needs and use research in the 1980s, explaining that information is not an object but a process and that it is important to understand, rather than explain ISB. Moreover, ^{Itoga (1992}) argued that understanding another person’s information needs, not describing human ISB, is possible by adopting social phenomenology. This alternative framework has implications for the theory and practice of information system design.

^{Miwa (2000}, ²⁰⁰¹) constructed an information behaviour grammar (IBG) model based on the analysis of information problem-solving processes of the users of the AskERIC Q&A Service, a free internet-based digital reference service in the educational domain. The model encompasses elements that Bandura's social learning theory focuses on, such as ‘goal multiplicity’, ‘causal interrelation between behaviour, internal cognition, and the external environment’, and ‘self-efficacy’. The idea was that the model could show patterns of ISB by distinguishing the goals of ISB into ‘distal goals’ and ‘proximal sub-goals’. Particularly, by considering that the ‘higher level of distal goal’, i.e., problem solving, generates the ‘proximal sub-goal’ of satisfying information needs and that the ‘proximal goal’ triggers ISB, we could show the patterns of ISB. Miwa’s IBG model describes the interaction between external behaviour, internal cognition’, and the social and physical environment surrounding the ISB (^{Miwa, 2015}). ^{Miwa (2021}) used this model to illustrate how goals of public library users change in the ISB process.

Furthermore, ^{Tamura (2001}) conducted an extensive review of research on information use, from the 1940s to IB research in the 1990s, from which he discovered that IB research lacked breadth owing to excessive focus on the process of individual information use. He also explained the importance of adopting a social perspective to overcome such blockages. ^{Ikeya (2001}) followed Tamura's argument and discussed information use as behaviour without efficiency or rationality. Specifically, by supporting Schutz's concept of the social distribution of knowledge, she positioned IB as practical knowledge management and discussed its characteristics. ^{Awamura (2009}) introduced Chatman's theory to IB research and showed that discussing the mutual reflectivity between ISB or information use and society was possible. These studies were later developed into information practice studies in Japan.

Recently,

^{Sakai et al. (2012}, ²⁰¹⁷) highlighted that there has been a movement in the humanities and social sciences known as the ‘pragmatic turn’, which emphasises the concept of ‘practice’ and that this is also occurring in IB research. The study then attempted to develop a pragmatic turn in information research by describing IB in the ‘workplace’ using ethnomethodology. Specifically, by conducting fieldwork in Japanese manufacturing workplaces, practitioners described the information concept as a phenomenon by examining the social context of collaborative work without separating it from the IB within it.

However, studies by ^{Matsubayashi (1995}) on Brenda Dervin's sense-making approach and ^{Awamura (2006}) on Sanda Erdelez's concept of information encountering, among others, have individually taken up representative theories in IB research and examined them in various ways. Another study that relies on individual theories but is aimed to lead to practical research is ^{Kunimoto’s (2010}) study on the initiation mechanism of ISB. Wilson's IB model was carefully analysed and investigated, with a particular focus on the initiation of ISB, to clarify how people searching for medical and healthcare information initiate the act of searching. ^{Shiga et al. (2017}) also attempted to model information needs for collaborative information seeking by building on Taylor's concept of information needs.

3.2. Research focused on information behaviour as seeking information

3.2.1. Study of information behaviour by undergraduate students

In Japan, as in other countries, there are several studies on IB conducted by university students, but its significant feature is several studies that measure quantitative behavioural data, such as screen capture logs, eye-movement data, and electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis, attempting to explore the characteristics of IB. ^{Miwa and Takahashi (2008}) analysed university students' knowledge acquisition and modification during exploratory web searches using eye-movement data and screen capture logs, and found that searchers modified their knowledge while browsing both the list of search results and the contents. ^{Terai et al. (2008}) also used screen capture logs and eye movement data to investigate the impact of task differences on ISB. These studies have shown the value of combining qualitative data obtained from interviews with quantitative data, such as eye movement data when studying ISB (^{Saito et al., 2011}). Recently published studies have also investigated the extent to which an actor’s burden changes between normal web exploration and the use of curated information using EEG and endogenous eye blink analysis (^{Takeda, 2017}, ²⁰¹⁹).

Various research studies have focused on external factors, such as the environment in which university students conduct their ISB and the cultural context of the actors. For example, ^{Shishido (1997}) conducted a study that investigated the challenges of searching with the newly introduced Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) and depicted how searchers were dissatisfied with some of the OPAC results. ^{Terai (2011}) experimented on how university students search in a hybrid information environment where physical and online information sources are simultaneously available, suggesting that being in an environment where various information sources are available may lead to new discoveries, even for searchers with clear intentions. Some studies have found that the determined role of the searcher in collaborative information retrieval, positively affects information retrieval and knowledge construction (^{Imazu et al., 2011}).

3.2.2. Study of information behaviour by citizens

Studies on citizens’ ISB can be broadly classified into those relating to behaviour in public libraries, those targeting web searches, and those relating to behaviour after the Great East Japan Earthquake disaster.

^{Sugie (2011}) conducted a semi-structured interview survey of public library users and analysed the results obtained using the modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA) to identify factors that shape users' ISB. ‘Accumulated needs and feelings’ were found to be a direct motivation for searching, while recognition of the search in the library influenced the way individuals conducted ISB. ^{Sugie (2017}) typified physical movements in ISB using an observation method based on radio-frequency identification techniques. The results showed that most users who borrowed materials stayed for a short time and searched for materials on specific shelves, whereas users who did not borrow materials were less predictable. ^{Uda et al. (2018}) conducted an information search experiment on elderly people and found that they can be divided into three groups:

Many studies have been conducted on citizens’ web searches. For example, ^{Yamamoto et al. (2018}) found that careful web searchers have higher cognitive needs and educational backgrounds and that the more careful they are, the more they include words such as ‘truth’ and ‘evidence’ in their search terms. ^{Minami et al. (2016}) investigated the characteristics of web searchers from the perspective of information retrieval skills and found that web searchers

There were many studies on IB and communication after the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. Several studies focused on the role of social media in disaster settings, but others focused on the feature of ISB. Through interviews with 28 disaster survivors, ^{Asai et al. (2013}) categorised ISB immediately after a disaster into five main types:

Through a content analysis of survivor’s testimonial collections, ^{Rahmi et al. (2019}) found that there are active and passive needs and various sources and channels that can satisfy passive needs, whereas there are limited sources and channels that can satisfy active needs. ^{Nagano and Joho (2020}), through M-GTA of the experiences of 27 disaster survivors, typified the tsunami evacuation process by focusing on ISB and found that there were four types:

^{Matsubayashi et al. (2012}) surveyed 1,200 men and women across Japan regarding the extent to which they sought and actually searched for specialised information on scientific, technical, and medical matters following the disaster. Therefore, it became clear that the need for specialised information increased among disaster victims throughout Japan and that the lack of knowledge regarding the search for specialised information made it difficult to search for such information.

3.3. Research focused on information behaviour as media use

3.3.1. Study of information behaviour by researchers

Researchers have studied IB in the context of scholarly communication and media use. Particularly, many have focused on the impact of the emerging electronic media on researchers’ research activities which tend to be field-specific studies targeting researchers from universities and research institutions in Japan.

^{Akasawa and Ueda (1998)}, ^{Kurata et al. (1998}), and ^{Sakai and Kadoya (2000}) clarified using computers in research activities (experiments, writing, and literature searches) and electronic media, such as e-mail, electronic journals, and WWW, in the fields of economics, psychology, and medical research, respectively. In their studies, around the 2000s although using computers in research activities was becoming more widespread and using electronic media in informal communication (exchanges between researchers using e-mail, etc.) was on the rise, the fact that electronic journals were not widely used reveals that computerisation in formal communication was not advanced at the time.

In the 2000s, an increasing number of usage surveys focused on the extent of formal communication digitisation. ^{Kurata et al. (2007}) surveyed researchers in pathology, chemistry, and physics and found a marked increase in electronic journal use across all fields. ^{Kurata et al. (2009}) conducted a study of medical researchers focusing on the acquisition and reading of articles and found that search tools, such as Google Scholar, which was the focus of considerable attention at the time, were rarely used and that there was a fixed pattern of PubMed usage in article acquisition. In the mid-2000s, a similar usage survey was conducted with researchers affiliated with private companies or research institutions at the National Diet Library (NDL). ^{Matsubayashi et al. (2009}) found that in life science, researchers affiliated with private companies or research institutions do not differ from researchers affiliated with universities, essentially, reading e-journals as frequently as researchers in universities.

The Standing Committee for Research on Academic Libraries (SCREAL) conducted fixed-point surveys at research universities and institutions in Japan (not all institutions were included) in 2007, 2011, and 2014. The results showed that the use of e-journals and other electronic media was increasing not only in the science, technology, and medical fields but also in the humanities and social sciences.

3.3.2. Study of information behaviour by citizens

A representative study of IB, on ‘media use’ of the citizens in Japan is the book Information Behaviour of the Japanese, published every five years since 1995. This is a series of national surveys that aim to clarify various media usage by citizens in their daily lives, focusing on periods and situations, providing a fairly detailed picture of trends in media use, such as what media each generation uses most frequently. It reveals a gradual increase in Internet usage from the time when television and newspapers were dominant to the time they were replaced by social media. The NDL has conducted a national survey of the IB of citizens, considering the element of library use, and published the survey results and its raw data (NDL, 2015).

4.1 Categories based on focus

4.1.1 Research focusing on general topics and information resources

The initial health IB research was a fact-finding survey that explored topics and information sources using questionnaires targeting adult citizens and patients with various diseases. Currently, surveys are also being conducted targeting people with specific characteristics, such as patients with specific diseases, the elderly, and foreign residents.

Early surveys on daily passive health information behaviour included questions on broad topics of interest. Naturally, citizens without diseases were most interested in ‘disease prevention’ (^{JMLA, 2002}) and patients were most interested in ‘diseases’ (^{Yamaguchi, 2001}), followed by ‘medicine’ in both groups.

Regarding active health ISB, Sakai et al.'s 2008 and 2013 repeated surveys use the critical incident method (^{Sakai, 2012}, ²⁰¹⁵). Approximately 48-52% of the population had taken exploratory behaviour in the past two years. The most sought topics were ‘disease,’ ‘doctors and hospitals,’ and ‘medicine.’ It was speculated that a health need event leading to a specific need led to the search.

The Internet has become a source of information for active exploration. This is confirmed by Sakai et al.'s repeated surveys, in which the top source of information was reversed from ‘physician’ (57% and 53%) to ‘Internet’ (44% and 59%), respectively. However, the source of daily health information remains unchanged, with general mass media at the top, followed by family and friends (^{Takayama, 2016}). ‘Family/friends’ was the top choice in a survey specific to foreigners living in Japan, exceeding 50% (^{Hara, 2021}; ^{Takaku, 2015}). Their native language-speaking family/friends are an important source of information because it is difficult for them to understand Japanese.

4.1.2 Factors affecting information behaviour

Health literacy is a major factor influencing information behaviour in health and medical care. The concept of health literacy was introduced in Japan around 2000 in conjunction with EBM and consumer health information and has attracted attention among researchers in health care, health communication, and library and information science. When an international comparative survey in 2013 pointed out that Japanese people's health literacy was inadequate (^{Nakayama, 2015}), it was once again recognised as an important health policy issue, and related research has become active.

In health literacy research, inadequate health literacy has been identified in terms of the process of information behaviour and its level. Based on the results, education for citizens to compensate for the lack of literacy and support programs has been considered from the perspective of information providers.

Among the processes of obtaining, understanding, evaluating, and utilising health information related to health literacy, the lack of health literacy can be confirmed, especially ‘evaluation’ and ‘utilisation,’ in the 2013 international comparison of the population survey in Japan. However, the results for the weak points are different, depending on the research that is limited to specific groups. For example, in an experimental study in which 15 university students searched the Internet for health topics, they complained about the difficulties in evaluating and understanding the contents, mainly owing to the difficulty of technical terms (^{Kobayashi, 2019}). In addition, in an interview survey of 21 preschool children's parents, it was confirmed that they read contents only at ‘easy-to-browse sites’ because they could not find, read, and apply difficult information on other sites. The results indicate the limited application of adequate information for children’s health (^{Funaki, 2020}).

As a survey targeting the elderly, the 2020 national survey that stratified middle-aged and elderly people aged 40-79 showed results similar to those of the 2015 international population survey. Approximately 95% of the participants responded that they could collect health information but only few could verify the reliability and actual use of the information for themselves (76.5% and 72.0%, respectively) (^{Hashimoto, 2020}). However, a survey of 386 elderly people living in urban areas found that, although they could understand, their health literacy was insufficient for the evaluation and acquisition of health information (^{Shimada, 2021}).

There are three levels of health literacy: basic functional health literacy, interactive health literacy for communication, and critical health literacy, with the highest level for discerning information. As shown in research in other countries, surveys conducted in Japan also cited a discrepancy between functional health literacy and the degree of difficulty in the information provided, creating a health communication gap. For example, an experimental survey of university students pointed out difficulties in understanding content owing to technical terms (^{Kobayashi, 2019}) and reliance on communities because they could not use the Internet or general information sources in Japan owing to the difficulties foreigners living in Japan encounter in understanding Japanese (^{Hara, 2021}; ^{Takaku, 2015}).

The degree of functional health literacy and interactive health literacy was examined in a survey of 2,207 adults living in one city in western Japan. The respondents were divided into four groups, and their characteristics were analysed. The results indicate that women and people aged over 60 are more active on both sides (^{Taguchi, 2011}).

4.1.3 Influence of information behaviour on health

The significance of obtaining information in the health and medical fields is to utilise it for appropriate health care and health promotions. In health communication research, from the perspective of information dissemination, behavioural changes are expected, especially in medical consultations, participation in decision-making regarding treatment methods, and health promotion habits.

However, in Japan, health information is usually viewed as the means of acquiring knowledge or a sense of security, whereas health behavioural change is generally limited to certain circumstances. For example, in the initial fact-finding survey, we asked what type of impact the information actually had, and the top answer was ‘relief or comfort’ (^{Sakai, 2012}; ²⁰¹⁵). This contrasts with a nationwide survey conducted in the United States with similar questions, where the answers mostly consisted of ‘useful for decision-making or facilitated communication with doctors.’

Similarly, in Japan, a national survey in 2007 found that acquiring health information increases knowledge but does not lead to action (^{Takahashi, 2011}). This is because the Japanese people are not good at evaluation and utilisation, and few people can make decisions. Nakayama explained in a discussion on a study citing the correlation between health literacy and COVID-19 infection prevention behaviour that there are few learning opportunities for information evaluation and application among the Japanese people (^{Nakayama, 2022}).

Only a few patient studies have found an association between information acquisition and behavioural changes under specific circumstances. One is a questionnaire survey targeting patients with breast cancer, in which those who seek more information are more likely to actively participate in decision-making (^{Nakashima, 2012}). Another is an interview survey with gynaecologic cancer survivors, indicating that the more information they received, the more likely they were to receive medical care (^{Oshima, 2013}).

4.2 Categories based on specific areas