TY - JOUR
T1 - Online Information Search Performance and Search Strategies in a Health Problem-Solving Scenario
AU - Sharit, Joseph
AU - Taha, Jessica
AU - Berkowsky, Ronald W.
AU - Profita, Halley
AU - Czaja, Sara J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to thank Andrew Schmidt, Mario Hernandez, Sankaran Nair, and Catalina Cuervo for their valuable assistance in completing this project. This research was supported by Grant Number P01-AG17211 from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging to the Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) III.
PY - 2015/9/21
Y1 - 2015/9/21
N2 - Although access to Internet health information can be beneficial, solving complex health-related problems online is challenging for many individuals. In this study, we investigated the performance of a sample of 60 adults ages 18 to 85 years in using the Internet to resolve a relatively complex health information problem. The impact of age, Internet experience, and cognitive abilities on measures of search time, amount of search, and search accuracy was examined, and a model of Internet information seeking was developed to guide the characterization of participants search strategies. Internet experience was found to have no impact on performance measures. Older participants exhibited longer search times and lower amounts of search but similar search accuracy performance as their younger counterparts. Overall, greater search accuracy was related to an increased amount of search but not to increased search duration and was primarily attributable to higher cognitive abilities, such as processing speed, reasoning ability, and executive function. There was a tendency for those who were younger, had greater Internet experience, and had higher cognitive abilities to use a bottom-up (i.e., analytic) search strategy, although use of a top-down (i.e., browsing) strategy was not necessarily unsuccessful. Implications of the findings for future studies and design interventions are discussed.
AB - Although access to Internet health information can be beneficial, solving complex health-related problems online is challenging for many individuals. In this study, we investigated the performance of a sample of 60 adults ages 18 to 85 years in using the Internet to resolve a relatively complex health information problem. The impact of age, Internet experience, and cognitive abilities on measures of search time, amount of search, and search accuracy was examined, and a model of Internet information seeking was developed to guide the characterization of participants search strategies. Internet experience was found to have no impact on performance measures. Older participants exhibited longer search times and lower amounts of search but similar search accuracy performance as their younger counterparts. Overall, greater search accuracy was related to an increased amount of search but not to increased search duration and was primarily attributable to higher cognitive abilities, such as processing speed, reasoning ability, and executive function. There was a tendency for those who were younger, had greater Internet experience, and had higher cognitive abilities to use a bottom-up (i.e., analytic) search strategy, although use of a top-down (i.e., browsing) strategy was not necessarily unsuccessful. Implications of the findings for future studies and design interventions are discussed.
KW - cognitive modeling
KW - decision aiding
KW - health care delivery
KW - human computer interaction
KW - information processing
KW - problem solving/reasoning
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U2 - 10.1177/1555343415583747
DO - 10.1177/1555343415583747
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84939634609
VL - 9
SP - 211
EP - 228
JO - Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making
JF - Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making
SN - 1555-3434
IS - 3
ER -