An Exploratory Study of User's Interaction with World Wide Web Resources: Information Skills, Cognitive Styles, Affective States, and Searching Behaviors

UnderstandinguserbehaviorinretrievingfactualinformationfromtheWorld Wide Web *ilt usrtst *"i ;;;G";s, web inJtructors, and reference librarians' In thisstudy,24graduatestodentswereaskedtosearchtheWebtofindtheanswerstotwo factual questio*. A;;;;-tracing technique, including transaction logs and conculrent verbalization of thotghts ;u'ing ti".sea'ch' provided data on their search processes' includingcognitive,sensorimotor,andaffectivebehaviors.Pre-testsmeasuredcognitive styles(EmbeddedFiguresTes0andpreviouscomputelandsearchexperience.Anxiety levels were ,nonito'LJ before and ^after searching by administering the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. piff"ttn""' in cognitive styb Le significantly related to the time spentoneachquestionandtlrenumbeiofsitesui'it"a.Generally,thosewhofoundan answerinashortertimeandexpressedconfidenceabouttheirresultsfeltlessanxiety. Search procedor", ur"Jln the course ofeach search session varied, but many users found search screens .orrrrig, rr"J i.rur" with the sensorimotor domain, or did not know always know *n.'. iiti'*"t= searctting' Users expressed many kinds of emotions as they searched, which selmed to be an important pi't of the search process' Once an answer was found, even if it was incorrect, most usels felt confident in their ability'