Differences between novice and experienced users in searching information on the World Wide Web

@article{lazonder2006, abstract = {Searching for information on the World Wide Web (WWW) basically comes down to locating an appropriate Web site and to retrieving relevant information from that site. This study examined the effect of a user's WWW experience on both phases of the search process. Twenty-five students from two schools for Dutch pre-university education were observed while performing three search tasks. The results indicate that subjects with WWW-experience are more proficient in locating Web sites than are novice WWW-users. The observed differences were ascribed to the experts' superior skills in operating Web search engines. However, on tasks that required subjects to locate information on specific Web sites, the performance of experienced and novice users was equivalent\ -\ a result that is in line with hypertext research. Based on these findings, implications for training and supporting students in searching for information on the WWW are identified. Finally, the role of the subjects' level of domain expertise is discussed and directions for future research are proposed.}, author = {Lazonder, Ard W. and Biemans, Harm J. A. and Wopereis, Iwan G. J. H. }, citeulike-article-id = {420508}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(2000)51:6\%3C576::AID-ASI9\%3E3.0.CO;2-7}, issn = {1097-4571}, journal = {Journal of the American Society for Information Science}, keywords = {information, retrieval, seeking, study, user}, month = {March}, number = {6}, pages = {576--581}, posted-at = {2008-06-09 23:08:28}, priority = {2}, title = {Differences between novice and experienced users in searching information on the World Wide Web}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(2000)51:6\%3C576::AID-ASI9\%3E3.0.CO;2-7}, volume = {51}, year = {2000} }

TY - JOUR ID - lazonder2006 L3 - citeulike-article-id:420508 TI - Differences between novice and experienced users in searching information on the World Wide Web JF - Journal of the American Society for Information Science VL - 51 IS - 6 SP - 576 EP - 581 SN - 1097-4571 N2 - Searching for information on the World Wide Web (WWW) basically comes down to locating an appropriate Web site and to retrieving relevant information from that site. This study examined the effect of a user's WWW experience on both phases of the search process. Twenty-five students from two schools for Dutch pre-university education were observed while performing three search tasks. The results indicate that subjects with WWW-experience are more proficient in locating Web sites than are novice WWW-users. The observed differences were ascribed to the experts' superior skills in operating Web search engines. However, on tasks that required subjects to locate information on specific Web sites, the performance of experienced and novice users was equivalent - a result that is in line with hypertext research. Based on these findings, implications for training and supporting students in searching for information on the WWW are identified. Finally, the role of the subjects' level of domain expertise is discussed and directions for future research are proposed. KW - information KW - retrieval KW - seeking KW - study KW - user AU - Lazonder, Ard AU - Biemans, Harm AU - Wopereis, Iwan PY - 2000/03/22/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(2000)51:6%3C576::AID-ASI9%3E3.0.CO;2-7 ER -