Theories for practitioners: two frameworks for studying consumer health information-seeking behavior.

Abstract

Consumer health information studies in library and information science (LIS) are typically not grounded within a theoretical framework. This article explains the importance of theory to LIS research in general, and the specific value of using theories from other disciplines to study consumers' health information-seeking behavior. The argument is supported with two examples: Miller's psychological theory of blunting and monitoring behavior and Granovetter's sociological theory of the strength of weak ties. These theories can be applied by practitioner-researchers to investigate a variety of research problems.