[Sigia-l] ROI/Value of Search Engine Design - Resources?

[Sarah A. Rice]

my research <a while ago> in library school (there was a huge body of 
research on people's information-seeking behavior / how people search / 
both with and without computers) revealed that many people do not take 
advantage of the complexity of search. At that time, most individuals did 
only single-word searches, unaware that they could refine their techniques 
to get a moderate number of "hits". It also shocked me to find out that, at 
that time, most users would make common mistakes (spelling errors, using 
slang, etc) and get frustrated when they didn't find what they were looking 
for (of course, blaming the system). For example, one person thought that 
there was ZERO information on parenting because she was doing a search for 
"child rearing". The help of the reference librarian got her looking in the 
right area. I'd be interested in finding out what the current literature 
says about search behavior / info seeking behavior 8 years later.

It's easy to see that popular search engines have improved since 
then(suggesting alternate spelling in search terms, the ability to limit by 
language, date, etc).

S.

At 03:24 AM 2/9/03 +1100, Eric Scheid wrote:
>On 9/2/03 1:31 AM, "Boniface Lau" <boniface_lau at compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> >> We've heard the bad (e.g., UIE's reports on how when people use
> >> search, they tend to fail at the task at hand).
> >
> > I take that with a big grain of salt.
>
>I too wonder if there is a causative relationship, not just a correlative
>one. One explanation might be that some people just couldn't find their nose
>on their face, and so of course when they resort to search they will also
>fail.
>
>I'd be interested to know what portion of the segment of users that
>succeeded without search could also succeed with search.
>
>e.
>
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_______________________________________________________________________
Sarah A. Rice . Information Architect . rice at seneb.com . (408) 269-6786