Confirming the relational model of information literacy

An operational definition was developed of the relational model of information literacy (Bruce, 1997), within the context of undergraduate higher education. This was achieved by identifying and validating examples of student behaviour that exemplified the seven phases of the relational model. Statistical analysis confirmed that the overall construct, information literacy, is a coherent concept as defined in the relational model, and distinguished each of the seven phases. This work also is an example of how quantitative methods can be used to generalise findings from qualitative research.