Search goal revision in models of information retrieval

Abstract

Research indicates that considerable amounts of search goal revision can take place during user-system interaction. Following a review of the treatment of this phenomenon in various models of information retrieval, an alternative model is proposed which attempts to explain search goal redefinition more fully, by distinguishing between goal change due to new information gained and goal change due to old knowledge remembered. In the case of the latter, it is postulated that external stimuli, contained for example in system feedback, raise the user’s nonconscious knowledge to consciousness, providing the user with a better understanding of their information want and goal. The new model is described as an instance of a more general model of information acquisition, embracing a spectrum of information behaviour, from purposeful query-based searching to incidental encountering.

Framing serendipitous information‐seeking behavior for facilitating literature‐based discovery: A proposed model

“…Jin Soo and Neuman () discovered that high school students used an iterative process while progressing from nebulous uncertainty to narrowed awareness in defining and pursuing topics of interest. Hider (, p. 352) described this iterative process as an exchange between a user's conscious and “nonconscious,” condition, and a retrieval system's output, with some output stimuli shifting cognitive elements from a nonconscious to a conscious state in information goal formation and alteration.…”

“…While studying the SKD behavior of academics, Foster and Ford () noted that at times participants were compelled to reformulate problem statements after encountering unexpected information. Hider () also noted that encountering new information may cause the seeker to change or simply clarify an information goal. Toms () noted a type of continuum effect of integrating information in the search process with less need for new information integration as search goals coalesce.…”

The seventeen theoretical constructs of information searching and information retrieval

“…The view of the iterative searching process focuses on the change in the user's cognitive and affective states. As Hider (2006) noted, a considerable amount of search goal revision can take place during and between user–system interaction.…”

Literature search strategies for conducting knowledge‐building and theory‐generating qualitative systematic reviews

“…Instead, it is a circuitous problem solving process that involves alternating forms of inductive and deductive reasoning, synchronous searching, selecting and discarding, and finally, problem formation, fine-tuning and confirmation (Bates 1989, 2007, Barroso et al . 2003, Hider 2006, Johnson 2009, Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic 2010, Hannes & Lockwood 2011). …”

“…As suggested earlier, the search process advocated by Bates lacks the defined linearity of more classic literature searches (Bates 1989, Hider 2006, Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic 2010, Hannes & Lockwood 2011. Instead, it is a circuitous problem solving process that involves alternating forms of inductive and deductive reasoning, synchronous searching, selecting and discarding, and finally, problem formation, finetuning and confirmation (Bates 1989, Barroso et al 2003, Hider 2006, Johnson 2009, Boell & Cecez-Kecmanovic 2010, Hannes & Lockwood 2011.…”