Selecting and measuring task characteristics as independent variables

This paper presents a first step toward a systematic framework for organizing numerous task characteristics or variables that are important in studying the effect of task on information behavior. The paper discusses issues related to selecting, operationalizing, and measuring task characteristics to be used as independent variables. It assembles a list of task characteristics and task classifications based on the characteristics to identify potential independent variables. The study also addresses research design issues to study the effect of task characteristics on information seeking and task performance. Finally, it summarizes findings about relationship between particular task characteristics and information seeking to help researchers form new hypotheses.

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