Search (237 results, page 12 of 12)

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Abstract

Users' individual differences and tasks are important factors that influence the use of information systems. Two independent investigations were conducted to study the impact of differences in users' cognition and search tasks on Web search activities and outcomes. Strong task effects were found on search activities and outcomes, whereas interactions between cognitive and task variables were found on search activities only. These results imply that the flexibility of the Web and Web search engines allows different users to complete different search tasks successfully. However, the search techniques used and the efficiency of the searches appear to depend on how well the individual searcher fits with the specific task

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Abstract

This article investigates whether information seeking patterns can be related to discipline differences, study approaches, and personality traits. A quantitative study of 305 master's thesis students' information behavior found that their information seeking tended to be either exploratory or precise. Statistical analyses showed that inner traits seemed more influential than discipline characteristics an information behavior. Exploration or specificity was manifested in terms of both the level and scope of information students wished to retrieve and the way they searched for it.

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Abstract

Proposes a model of the search term selection process based on an empirical study of professional searchers during the pre-online stage of the search process. The model chraracterises the selection of search terms as the navigation of different discourses. 6 discourses emerged as sources of search terms: controlled vocabularies, documents and the domain, the practice of indexing, clients' search request, databases and the searchers' own search experience. Searchers navigate the discourses dynamically and have preferences for certain discourses. Emphasises the multiplicity and complexity of sources of search terms, the dynamic nature of the search term selection process and the complex analysis and synthesis of differences and similarities among sources of search terms. Searchers may need to understand fundamental aspects of multiple discourses in order to select search terms

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Abstract

During the fall 2001 semester 15 first-year undergraduates were interviewed about their information-seeking behavior. Undergraduates completed a short-answer questionnaire, the Measure of Epistemological Reflection, measuring their epistemological beliefs and searched the Web and an online public access catalog using tasks from the Reflective Judgment Interview that assessed their reflective judgment level. Undergraduates talked aloud while searching digital environments about the decisions they were making about the information they encountered while transaction analyses software (Lotus ScreenCam) recorded both their search moves and their decision-making through verbal protocol analysis. Analyses included examining the relationship between undergraduates' epistemological beliefs and reflective judgment and how they searched for information in these digital environments. Results indicated that there was a relationship between epistemological beliefs and reflective judgment and information-seeking behavior. Undergraduates' at higher stages of epistemological development exhibited the ability to handle conflicting information sources and to recognize authoritative information sources.

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Abstract

Search engines are very popular tools for collecting information from distributed resources. They provide not only search facilities, but they also offer directories for users to browse content divided into groups. In this paper, we've adopted an individual differences approach to explore user's attitudes towards various interface features provided by existing Web directories. Among a variety of individual differences, cognitive style is a particularly important characteristic that influences the effectiveness of information seeking. Empirical results indicate that users' cognitive styles influence their reactions to the organization of subject categories, presentation of the results, and screen layout. We developed a set of design guidelines an the basis of these results, and propose a flexible interface that adopts these guidelines to accommodate the preferences of different cognitive style groups.

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Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board which sought to investigate links between Web search strategies and retrieval effectiveness. A total of 68 students, enrolled on masters programmes in librarianship, information management and information systems, searched for two topics using the AltaVista search engine. Logs of the resultant 341 queries, along with relevance judgements for over 4,000 retrieved items, were analysed using factor analysis and regression. The differing but complementary types and strengths of evidence produced by these two forms of analysis are discussed and presented. Retrieval effectiveness was associated positively with best-match searching and negatively with Boolean searching. The implications of these findings for Web searching are discussed.

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Abstract

Query reformulation is a key user behavior during Web search. Our research goal is to develop predictive models of query reformulation during Web searching. This article reports results from a study in which we automatically classified the query-reformulation patterns for 964,780 Web searching sessions, composed of 1,523,072 queries, to predict the next query reformulation. We employed an n-gram modeling approach to describe the probability of users transitioning from one query-reformulation state to another to predict their next state. We developed first-, second-, third-, and fourth-order models and evaluated each model for accuracy of prediction, coverage of the dataset, and complexity of the possible pattern set. The results show that Reformulation and Assistance account for approximately 45% of all query reformulations; furthermore, the results demonstrate that the first- and second-order models provide the best predictability, between 28 and 40% overall and higher than 70% for some patterns. Implications are that the n-gram approach can be used for improving searching systems and searching assistance.

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Abstract

The goal of this study is to understand whether providing a search intermediary familiar with a problem domain and its topical structure would support a user's Web searching tasks, especially complicated tasks with multifaceted topics, and whether the order of searching tasks or system usage influences their successful completion. This study investigates the effect of two factors, the interaction mode and the display layout, on the three main measures of the user's Web searching behaviors: effectiveness, efficiency, and usability. Two interaction modes are compared, mediation via a domain-specific document collection versus nonmediated search, and two display layouts, a combination of browsing-supporting hierarchic display and ranked list of results versus the simple linear list of search results. The results are analyzed in the Flow theory point of view; they were analyzed by order of the tasks and system usage order. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of how the mediation system and/or the combined display support a Web information user.

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Abstract

This research examined college students' image searching processes on the Web. The study's objective was to collect empirical data on students' search needs and identify what contextual factors had a significant influence on their image searching tactics. While confirming common search behaviors such as Google-dominant use, short queries, rare use of advanced search options, and checking few search result pages, the findings also revealed a significantly different effect of contextual factors on the tactics of querying and navigating, performance, and relevance judgment. In particular, interaction activities were differentiated by task goals, level of searching expertise, and work task stages. The results suggested that context-sensitive services and interface features would better suit Web users' actual needs and enhance their searching experience.

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Abstract

This study focuses on the impact of age, prior domain knowledge and cognitive abilities on performance, query production and navigation strategies during information searching. Twenty older adults and nineteen young adults had to answer 12 information search problems of varying nature within two domain knowledge: health and manga. In each domain, participants had to perform two simple fact-finding problems (keywords provided and answer directly accessible on the search engine results page), two difficult fact-finding problems (keywords had to be inferred) and two open-ended information search problems (multiple answers possible and navigation necessary). Results showed that prior domain knowledge helped older adults improve navigation (i.e. reduced the number of webpages visited and thus decreased the feeling of disorientation), query production and reformulation (i.e. they formulated semantically more specific queries, and they inferred a greater number of new keywords).

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Abstract

Query classification is an important part of exploring the characteristics of web queries. Existing studies are mainly based on Broder's classification scheme and classify user queries into navigational, informational, and transactional categories according to users' information needs. In this article, we present a novel classification scheme from the perspective of queries' temporal patterns. Queries' temporal patterns are inherent time series patterns of the search volumes of queries that reflect the evolution of the popularity of a query over time. By analyzing the temporal patterns of queries, search engines can more deeply understand the users' search intents and thus improve performance. Furthermore, we extract three groups of features based on the queries' search volume time series and use a support vector machine (SVM) to automatically detect the temporal patterns of user queries. Extensive experiments on the Million Query Track data sets of the Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

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Abstract

Adapting the consumer behavior selectivity model to the Web environment, this paper's key contribution is the introduction of a self-concept orientation model of Web information seeking. This model, which addresses gender, effort, and information content factors, questions the commonly assumed equivalence of sex and gender by specifying the measurement of gender-related selfconcept traits known as self- and other-orientation. Regression analyses identified associations between self-orientation, other-orientation, and self-reported search frequencies for content with identical subject domain (e.g., medical information, government information) and differing relevance (i.e., important to the individual personally versus important to someone close to him or her). Self- and other-orientation interacted such that when individuals were highly self-oriented, their frequency of search for both self- and other-relevant information depended on their level of other-orientation. Specifically, high-self/high-other individuals, with a comprehensive processing strategy, searched most often, whereas high-self/low-other respondents, with an effort minimization strategy, reported the lowest search frequencies. This interaction pattern was even more pronounced for other-relevant information seeking. We found no sex differences in search frequency for either self-relevant or other-relevant information.

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Abstract

Categorized overviews of web search results are a promising way to support user exploration, understanding, and discovery. These search interfaces combine a metadata-based overview with the list of search results to enable a rich form of interaction. A study of 24 sophisticated users carrying out complex tasks suggests how searchers may adapt their search tactics when using categorized overviews. This mixed methods study evaluated categorized overviews of web search results organized into thematic, geographic, and government categories. Participants conducted four exploratory searches during a 2-hour session to generate ideas for newspaper articles about specified topics such as "human smuggling." Results showed that subjects explored deeper while feeling more organized, and that the categorized overview helped subjects better assess their results, although no significant differences were detected in the quality of the article ideas. A qualitative analysis of searcher comments identified seven tactics that participants reported adopting when using categorized overviews. This paper concludes by proposing a set of guidelines for the design of exploratory search interfaces. An understanding of the impact of categorized overviews on search tactics will be useful to web search researchers, search interface designers, information architects and web developers.

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Abstract

This article proposes a theory of information need for information retrieval (IR). Information need traditionally denotes the start state for someone seeking information, which includes information search using an IR system. There are two perspectives on information need. The dominant, computer science perspective is that the user needs to find an answer to a well-defined question which is easy for the user to formulate into a query to the system. Ironically, information science's best known model of information need (Taylor, 1968) deems it to be a "black box"-unknowable and nonspecifiable by the user in a query to the information system. Information science has instead devoted itself to studying eight adjacent or surrogate concepts (information seeking, search and use; problem, problematic situation and task; sense making and evolutionary adaptation/information foraging). Based on an analysis of these eight adjacent/surrogate concepts, we create six testable propositions for a theory of information need. The central assumption of the theory is that while computer science sees IR as an information- or answer-finding system, focused on the user finding an answer, an information science or user-oriented theory of information need envisages a knowledge formulation/acquisition system.

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Abstract

Previous studies have shown that users' cognitive styles play an important role during web searching. However, only a limited number of studies have showed the relationship between cognitive styles and web search behavior. Most importantly, it is not clear which components of web search behavior are influenced by cognitive styles. This article examines the relationships between users' cognitive styles and their web searching and develops a model that portrays the relationship. The study uses qualitative and quantitative analyses based on data gathered from 50 participants. A questionnaire was utilized to collect participants' demographic information, and Riding's (1991) Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) test to assess their cognitive styles. Results show that users' cognitive styles influenced their information-searching strategies, query reformulation behavior, web navigational styles, and information-processing approaches. The user model developed in this study depicts the fundamental relationships between users' web search behavior and their cognitive styles. Modeling web search behavior with a greater understanding of users' cognitive styles can help information science researchers and information systems designers to bridge the semantic gap between the user and the systems. Implications of the research for theory and practice, and future work, are discussed.

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