The Role of Subjective Factors in the Information Search Process

Gwizdka, Jacek and Lopatovska, Irene The Role of Subjective Factors in the Information Search Process. Journal for the American Society of Information Science & Technology, 2009, vol. 60, n. 12, pp. 2452-2464. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

We investigated the role of subjective factors in the information search process. Forty-eight participants each conducted six Web searches in a controlled setting. We examined relationships between subjective factors (happiness levels, satisfaction with and confidence in the search results, feeling lost during search, familiarity with and interest in the search topic, estimation of task difficulty) and objective factors (search behavior, search outcomes, and search-task characteristics). Data analysis was conducted using a multivariate statistical test (canonical correlations analysis). The findings confirmed existence of several relationships suggested by prior research, including relationships between objective search task difficulty and the perception of task difficulty, and between subjective states and search behaviors and outcomes. One of the original findings suggests that higher happiness levels before and during the search correlate with better feelings after the search, but also correlate with worse search outcomes and lower satisfaction, suggesting that, perhaps, it pays off to feel some "pain" during the search to "gain" quality outcomes.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: online searching, psychological aspects, cognitive perception, user satisfaction, search behavior, information retrieval, information seeking behaviors, human computer interaction, hypertext and hypermedia, quantitative research
Subjects: L. Information technology and library technology > LS. Search engines.
C. Users, literacy and reading. > CB. User studies.
Depositing user: Jacek Gwizdka
Date deposited: 24 Nov 2009
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:15
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/13685

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