The effects of search tool type and cognitive style on performance during hypermedia database searches

Leader, Lars; Klein, James D.

doi:10.1007/bf02300537

Cited by 39 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…For a Web directory to be implemented successfully, interface design should reflect each user's individual needs to allow users to develop their own information seeking strategies. As suggested by previous studies (Carter, 2002;Chen & Macredie, 2004;Leader & Klein;, users with different characteristics tend to develop and use different strategies in a user interface, and individual differences, especially cognitive styles, are the most common cause of variations in human-computer interaction activities. Therefore, a welldesigned interface is effective and crucial in accommodating these differences (Hook, 2000).…”

Section: Design Of a Flexible Interfacementioning

confidence: 94%

A flexible interface design for Web directories to accommodate different cognitive styles

Chen

Magoulas

Dimakopoulos

2004

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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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 on 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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Section: Design Of a Flexible Interfacementioning

confidence: 94%

A flexible interface design for Web directories to accommodate different cognitive styles

Chen

Magoulas

Dimakopoulos

2004

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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“…While existing This work has focused predominately on ''stand-alone '' literature has been reviewed with an eye toward identienvironments that exist on single computers or smaller, fying ways to design hypertext and hypermedia environproprietary networks (Conklin, 1987). ments, either generally (Shneiderman & Kearsley, 1989) or for more specific educational purposes (Hammond, Kearsley, 1989;Welsh et al, 1993). In general, although hierarchically restricted links to one allowing unrestricted users can find information as effectively in hypertext as access to all displays in a knowledge base.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hierarchical linking has been beneknowledge base. It also may have helped them develop a ficial because it reflects how information usually is orgabetter understanding of how much knowledge they still nized in print (Shneiderman & Kearsley, 1989) and most needed to learn, since low prior-knowledge users tended users are familiar with print materials. In addition, there to complete the lesson more quickly and, possibly, too is evidence that, when browsing, users tend to constantly soon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching through cyberspace: The effects of link display and link density on information retrieval from hypertext on the World Wide Web

Khan

Locatis

1998

J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci.

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This study investigated information retrieval from hypertext on Internet's World Wide Web (WWW). Significant main and interaction effects were found for both link density (number of links per display) and display format (in paragraphs or lists) on search performance. Low link densities displayed in list format produced the best overall results, in terms of search accuracy, search time, number of links explored, and search task prioritization. Lower densities affected user ability to prioritize search tasks and produced more accurate searches, while list displays positively affected all aspects of searching except task prioritization. The performance of novices and experts, in terms of their previous experience browsing hypertext on the WWW, was compared. Experts performed better, mostly because of their superior task prioritization. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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“…As previous studies suggested (Gay, Trumbull, & Mazur, 1991;Nielsen, 1995), providing a site map might be one possible solution. Leader and Klein (1996) found, however, that FIs, not FDs, could take advantage of a map to improve search performance on a hypermedia system. Further research is needed to find out whether providing a site map could actually reduce the chance of FDs getting lost.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…A relation between cognitive style and the use of hypermedia was found in other studies as well. Leader and Klein's (1996) study discovered that FIs took advantage of certain tools, such as index/find and map, that can facilitate a nonlinear navigation, and found information more efficiently, whereas FDs did not.…”

Section: Cognitive Stylementioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of User Characteristics in Information Seeking on the World Wide Web

Kim

2001

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction

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The study described in this article investigated how differences in cognitive style and online search experience influence the search performance and navigational pattern of individuals utilizing a university World Wide Web (WWW) site. Forty-eight undergraduate students with diverse academic backgrounds participated in the study. On the basis of cognitive style and prior experience with online database search, the participants were assigned to 1 of the following groups: (a) field-dependent (FD) with little or no online search experience, (b) FD with substantial online search experience, (c) field-independent (FI) with little or no online search experience, and (d) FI with substantial online search experience. It was found that cognitive style influenced search time, whereas online search experience affected navigational style, such as jumps and layer traversal. Cognitive style and online search experience also interacted to influence search performance and navigational style. FDs with little or no online search experience navigated the WWW in a fairly linear mode, using embedded links frequently. They also tended to visit more nodes and used "Home" more frequently than the rest. The results imply that as FD searchers gain more online search experience, their navigational style and search performance change and become comparable to that of FDs. Based on these findings, some suggestions are made to improve the WWW interface and WWW user training programs.

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The effects of search tool type and cognitive style on performance during hypermedia database searches

Cited by 39 publications

References 13 publications

A flexible interface design for Web directories to accommodate different cognitive styles

A flexible interface design for Web directories to accommodate different cognitive styles

Searching through cyberspace: The effects of link display and link density on information retrieval from hypertext on the World Wide Web

Implications of User Characteristics in Information Seeking on the World Wide Web

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