Do students look for information differently? Information-seeking behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the COVID-19 information-seeking behavior of the students in a developing country. This study also explores how the use of information sources changes over time by the students of a public university in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach An e-mail was sent along with an online questionnaire to 350 students in a public university in Bangladesh. After sending a couple of follow-up e-mails in May and June 2022, we got limited responses. Later in July, we distributed the same questionnaire in the printed form to the students in the seminar library, computer laboratory and in the classroom. Finally, we got back 270 responses, and the response rate was 77.14%. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (effect size) and nonparametric test (Mann–Whitney U test) were used to see the differences in using information sources over times and overall understanding of choosing the COVID-19 information sources by the demographic variables. Findings This study found that the COVID-19 pandemic has made an increased demand for a variety of information, and the sources of information changes over time before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of the students faced challenges while seeking COVID-19 information which mostly falls under the availability of mis–disinformation. Students used more social media tools during the COVID-19 than the pre-COVID-19 time, and there are some significant relationships found between the students’ demographic variables and students’ understanding of choosing the COVID-19 information sources. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to analyze changes in information behavior patterns of students in a developing country and understand the challenges faced by the students during the pandemic.