Abstract

As digital transformation accelerates, researchers, including graduate students, are changing how they conduct research. However, there is a lack of research on domestic graduate students’ digital tool usage behavior in research contexts. This study aims to provide foundational data for developing research support service strategies by understanding the digital tool usage behavior of graduate students in humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary fields. To deeply analyze graduate students’ purposes, recognition pathways, challenges, and solutions regarding digital tool usage, we conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 19 graduate students who had experience using digital tools and conducted content analysis of the collected data to derive research findings. The results revealed that graduate students use digital tools for various purposes throughout the research process, such as literature collection, data analysis, data management, and collaboration, with usage patterns differing by academic field. They faced challenges such as limited information accessibility, difficulty in applying tools for specific purposes, and difficulties in the learning process. To address these issues, they showed a tendency to combine multiple resources, including on- and off-campus educational programs, personal networks, and generative AI. This study contributes to understanding graduate students’ actual experience-based digital tool usage patterns and is expected to contribute to proposing research support measures, including field-specific customized education and information provision, as well as the complementary use of digital and analog resources.