Introduction

The variation theory of learning is a theoretical framework that can guide information literacy research. The value of variation theory to information literacy research is that it can shed light on information literacy specifically in relationship to learning through the identification of patterns of variation that may enable learners to learn as intended. Developed from an educational research agenda (Marton and Booth, 1997; Marton, Hounsell and Entwistle, 1997; Marton and Tsui, 2004), variation theory is well suited to the study of information literacy in formal learning contexts. Grounded in the belief that reality is created through interaction between individuals and the world (Marton and Booth, 1997, 12–13) and that knowledge is awareness of phenomena created through such interactions (Marton, 1994), learning is defined as changes in awareness enabled by encountering variations or differences (Marton, 2014; Marton and Tsui, 2004). The theory focuses on specific parts of the learning process, including intentions for learning, how it is enacted in a classroom or other learning situations and the learners’ lived experiences of learning. Variation theory allows for exploring the relationship between information literacy and learning in various ways, such as focusing on it as the sole outcome of a learning situation, or as a part of learning in a disciplinary learning context. Recognising that learning occurs in a myriad of contexts, variation theory may be adaptable to the study of information literacy outside educational settings, including playing a role in addressing information-focused challenges, such as misinformation, equitable access to information and so forth, facing the world today.

Variation theory

Origins

Variation theory guides research and practice that examines learning environments to reveal what students have learned, but also what was possible for them to learn within a learning situation. The development of variation theory was directly informed by the research findings from studies applying the phenomenographic approach developed in the 1970s by Ference Marton and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. While there are different approaches to phenomenography, they all focus on identifying variations in human experience of the same phenomenon (Marton, 1981). This type of phenomenographic research was primarily developed to explore and describe learners’ experiences in educational settings (Marton, Hounsell and Entwistle, 1997) The typical outcome from this kind of phenomenographic research, called an outcome space, is a set of categories that describe the varied ways of experiencing the phenomenon being studied.