A Personal Reflection on Researching and Writing My Dissertation

Library and Information Research Volume 36 Number 113 2012 _______________________________________________________________________________

A personal reflection on researching and writing my dissertation: The effect of homelessness on information access, identity formation and social interaction
Thomas Muggleton

Abstract

This is a brief account of research undertaken for a dissertation, The effect of homelessness on information access, identity formation and social interaction, submitted to the University of Strathclyde in 2010 for the degree of M.Sc. Information and Library Studies. The dissertation aimed to add to the information science literature on homelessness, which often focuses on practical information needs, by considering access to information sources – specifically newspapers, television, radio, books and the internet – that may affect ‘higher-level’ needs. The findings contradicted initial expectations regarding the extent to which homelessness would restrict access to these information sources, but the decision to address higher-level information needs proved well-founded, since participants clearly pursued these alongside more basic physiological needs. The research has implications for the provision of information and services within both organisations serving the homeless and public libraries. This paper presents the research and its findings from a personal perspective.

1 Introduction

Along with the rest of my ILS class at the University of Strathclyde, I researched and wrote my dissertation in the summer of 2010. We had to choose a topic for this project months earlier, but now that I had actually begun to lay the groundwork for it, I was beginning to have some doubts. I had chosen to focus on a marginalised group because, given the time and effort required to produce the dissertation, I wanted to feel that there was at least the