Patterns in information search for decision making: the effects of information abstraction

✍ Scribed by N.P. Archer; M.M. Head; Y. Yuan

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 307 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1071-5819
• DOI: 10.1006/ijhc.1996.0069

✦ Synopsis

This paper reports on a study of abstraction in an information retrieval interface , where users had access to both detailed data and to two higher levels of abstraction of the data , in a multiple attribute alternative ranking situation . Through an experiment with a total of 76 subjects we found that , when they were not constrained by any built-in structure in their choice of information , there was a spectrum of use which combined various proportions of top-down search with opportunistic episodes (non-top-down branches to view various information attributes) . We developed a measure of the degree of top-down search used , and found that this measure correlated positively with an increased propensity to use a compensatory decision strategy . Users also tended to reduce their use of top-down search in favour of more opportunistic search as they moved through the stages of the decision process . The degree of top-down search correlated significantly with a tendency to search within alternatives , but did not correlate with user domain experience . An implication of our findings is that , in order for a data retrieval interface to be implemented successfully , users should not be constrained by the system to follow a built-in search strategy , but should be allowed to develop their own search strategies through the use of a flexible interface .