On Search in an Incomplete Database

Abstract The purpose of this investigation is to determine the psychological factors which are important for the efficient use of information from an incomplete database. Ten psychology students were instructed to answer a question by searching for information in a database. The question was not directly answerable but required the subjects to make inferences from the information retrieved. The following differences were found between the most and the least efficient subjects: the more efficient subjects started by obtaining an overview of the alternative search words available. They used the information obtained both to find possible answers and to exclude impossible ones. The more efficient subjects used prior knowledge schemata to make inferences, which yielded fewer possible candidates than the prior knowledge schemata used by the less efficient subjects. The less efficient subjects became more confused by the different possibilities, forgot information retrieved and repeated searches. It was concluded than an efficient search in an incomplete database requires that people have an overview of the alternatives offered. It also requires that one should make inferences from the information obtained in order to form possible hypotheses and to reject impossible alternatives.