Abstract: Information encountering (IE) research has become an important part of the human information behavior domain. There has been a rapid increase of related studies conducted by library and information science researchers in recent years. However, the limitations of research methods are impeding more in-depth investigation into the phenomenon of IE. This study collected a total of 87 empirical research papers published at home and aboard from 1995 to 2018. Based on the dimensions of researvh topics, sample type, data type, data collection, and data analysis, a content analysis was performed on the research methods sections of these papers, which reveals the status quo and problems of applying methods in IE research. Future trends in IE research methods were predicted with the aim to facilitate methodology innovations in IE research and to break the current bottleneck.

Key words: Information encountering, Research methods, Data collection, Data analysis, Content analysis