Exploring the Effect of Mental Demand in Web Searches: A Pilot Study

나경식 (Kyoungsik Na)

doi:10.4275/KSLIS.2014.48.2.379

Exploring the Effect of Mental Demand in Web Searches: A Pilot Study

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
2014, 48(2), pp.379-398
DOI : 10.4275/KSLIS.2014.48.2.379
Publisher : 한국문헌정보학회
Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science

Kyoungsik Na ¹

¹건국대학교 문헌정보학과

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This pilot study explored the effect of mental demand on a Web searcher’s thoughts, emotions, efforts, and performance in Web searches in order to address whether or not there is any difference between searchers exposed to mental demand manipulation and searchers not exposed. Research data were collected via think-aloud protocol (TAP) with a dual-task in experiments and interviews with 10 subjects who participated in this study. For the searcher’s thoughts, relevance judgment was found to be hindered by mental demand. For the searcher’s emotions, the experimental group was more frustrated than the control group. With respect to the searcher’s efforts, searchers for the experimental group with mental demand manipulation were more likely to spend more time, make fewer queries, and visit fewer pages but work harder to find more relevant information that they needed. Lastly, with regard to the searcher’s performance, it is likely that performance was highly dependent upon the completion of the search tasks for both groups. The NASA-TLX six components and cognitive load scores of searchers did not make a significant difference in the outcome. The findings support the use of a dual-task methodology as a promising approach for the assessment of cognitive load induced by complex Web searches.

KEYWORDS

Mental Demand, Cognitive Load, Web Search, NASA-TLX, Dual-Tasks, Think Aloud Protocol

Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

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Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.84

Exploring the Effect of Mental Demand in Web Searches: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

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Citation status

* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.84

Exploring the Effect of Mental Demand in Web Searches: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.