|   homepage   |   about E-LIS   |   browse   |   search   |   help   |   classification schema   |   submission guidelines   ||
| Login/Your pages | Create Account|

Dual-Task Performance as a Measure of Mental Effort in Searching a Library System and the Web

Kim, Yong-Mi and Rieh, Soo Young (2005) Dual-Task Performance as a Measure of Mental Effort in Searching a Library System and the Web. [Conference Paper]

Full text available as:

[img]
Preview
PDF - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader
552Kb Language: English

Abstract(s)

This paper examines a dual-task method for the assessment of mental effort during online searching, having the users engage in two tasks simultaneously. Searching was assigned as a primary task and a visual observation was set up as a secondary task. The study participants were asked to perform two searches, one on the Web and the other in a webbased library system. Perceived search difficulty and mental effort for searching on the two types of systems were compared through participant self-reports, dual-task performance, and search log analysis. After the searches were completed, the subjects reported that library searching was more difficult to conduct and they had to concentrate more than when Web searching. However, the results of dual-task performance do not reveal much difference in mental effort or concentration during searches in the two systems. Rather, they invested mental effort differently when viewing search results and reading retrieved documents. The findings indicate that a dual-task method provides a useful technique to measure mental effort in online searching, and it has a great potential to be used to measure other aspects of information retrieval such as task complexity and multitasking information behavior.


Item Type:Conference Paper
Keywords:search preference ; online catalog ; opac ; search engine ; learning ; mental effort
Subjects:B. Information use and sociology of information. > BI. User interfaces, usability.
C. Users, literacy and reading. > CB. User studies.
L. Information technology and library technology. > LR. OPAC systems.
L. Information technology and library technology. > LS. Search engines.
Full Metadata:Show all fields
ID Code:5167
Deposited By:Medeiros, Norm
Deposited On:10 Mar 2006
Last Modified:19 Nov 2008 09:58
Statistics:View statistics for this eprint

Borgman, C. L. (1996). Why are online catalogs still hard to use? Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 47(7), 493-503.

Britton, B. K., Muth, K.D., & Glynn, S. M. (1986). Effects of text organization on memory: Test of a cognitive effort hypothesis withlimited exposure time. Discourse Processes, 9, 475-487.

Brünken, R., Steinbacher, S., Plass, J. L., & Leutner, D. (2002). Assessment of cognitive load in multimedia learning using dualtask methodology. Experimental Psychology, 49(2), 109-119.

Cennamo, K. S. (1993). Learning from video: Factors influencing learners’ preconceptions and invested mental effort. Educational Technology Research and Development, 41(3), 33-45.

Cooper, M. D. (2001). Usage patterns of a web-based library catalog. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 52 (2), 137–148.

Dennis, S., Bruza, P., & McArthur, R. (2002). Web searching: A process-oriented experimental study of three interactive search paradigms. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(2), 120-133.

Drabenstott, K. M. & Vizine-Goetz, D. (1994). Using subject headings for online retrieval. San Diego: Academic Press.

Eysenck, M. W. (2001). Principles of cognitive psychology (2nd Ed.). Psychology Press.

Fast, K.V. & Campbell, D. G. (2004). “I still like Google”: University student perceptions of searching OPACs and the Web. Proceedings of the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 41

Glenberg, A. M. & Epstein, W. (1987). Inexpert calibration of comprehension. Memory & Cognition, 15(1), 84-93.

Grosjean, M., Rosenbaum, D. A., & Elsinger, C. (2001). Timing and reaction time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(2), 256-272.

Iani, C., Gopher, D., & Lavie, P. (2004). Effects of task difficulty and invested mental effort on peripheral vasoconstriction. Psychophysiology, 41, 789-798.

Krendl, K. A. (1986). Media influence on learning: Examining the role of preconceptions. Educational Communication & Technology Journal, 34(4), 223–234.

Maki, R. H. & Berry, S. L. (1984). Metacomprehension of text material. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 10(4), 663-679.

O’Donnel, R. D., & Eggemeier, F. T. (1986). Workload assessment methodology. In K. Boff, L. Kaufman, & J. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of perception and performance: Cognitive processes and performance (pp. 42.1-42.49). New York: Wiley.

Pashler, H. (2000). Task switching and multitask performance. In S. Monsell & J. Driver (Eds.), Control of cognitive processes: Attention and performance XVIII (pp. 277-309). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Pew Internet Project (2004). The Internet and Daily Life. Retrieved from

http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Internet_and_Daily_Life.pdf

Pew Internet Project. (2005). Search engine users. http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Searchengine_users.pdf

Rieh, S. Y. (2005, January). Is web searching easier than library searching?: Differential expectation, perceived difficulty, and effort. Paper presented at the ALISE Annual Conference, Boston.

Salomon, G. (1981). Introducing AIME: The assessment of children’s mental involvement with television. In K. Kelly and H. Gardner (Eds.), New directions for child development: Viewing children through television (pp. 89-102). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Salomon, G. (1984). Television is “Easy” and print is “Tough”: The differential investment of mental effort in learning as a function of perceptions and attributions. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(4), 647-658.

Silverstein, C., Henzinger, M., Marais, H., & Morica, M. (1999). Analysis of a very large Web search engine query log. SIGIR Forum, 33(1), 6-12.

Slone, D. J. (2002). The influence of mental models and goals on search patterns during web interaction. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(13), 1152-1169.

Spink, A. (2004). Multitasking information behavior and information task switching: An exploratory study. Journal of Documentation, 60(4), 336-351.

Spink, A., Jansen, B. J., Wolfram, D. & Saracevic, T. (2002). From E-Sex to E-Commerce: Web search changes. IEEE Computer, 35(3), 107-111.

Spink, A. & Jansen, B. J. (2004). Web search: Public searching of the Web. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Sutcliffe, A.G., Ennis, M. & Watkinson, S. J. (2000). Empirical studies of end-user information searching. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 51(13), 1211–1231.

Verwey, W. B. & Veltman, H. A. (1996). Detecting short periods of elevated workload: A comparison of nine workload assessment techniques. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2(3), 270-285.

Archive Staff Only: edit this record

|     E-LIS is hosted by AEPIC at CILEA     |     Powered by GNU Eprints software|