The influence of mental models on undergraduate students’ searching behavior on the Web

• Published in: Information processing & management Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 1330 - 1345
• Main Author: Zhang, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2008; Elsevier; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: College students; Correlation analysis; Exact sciences and technology; Information and communication sciences; Information processing and retrieval; Information retrieval; Information retrieval. Man machine relationship; Information science. Documentation; Information searching behavior; Information seeking behaviour; Mental models; Perceptions; Query construction; Query formulation; Research process. Evaluation; Sciences and techniques of general use; Search patterns; Studies; Websites; Information searching behavior; Mental models; Query construction; Search patterns; Query formulation; User study; World wide web; Information retrieval; Student; Searching behavior; Mental model
• ISSN: 0306-4573; 1873-5371
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2007.09.002

This article explores the effects of undergraduate students’ mental models of the Web on their online searching behavior. Forty-four undergraduate students, mainly freshmen and sophomores, participated in the study. Subjects’ mental models of the Web were treated as equally good styles and operationalized as drawings of their perceptions about the Web. Four types of mental models of the Web were identified based on the drawings and the associated descriptions: technical view, functional view, process view, and connection view. In the study, subjects were required to finish two search tasks. Searching behavior was measured from four aspects: navigation and performance, subjects’ feelings about tasks and their own performances, query construction, and search patterns. The four mental model groups showed different navigation and querying behaviors, but the differences were not significant. Subjects’ satisfaction with their own performances was found to be significantly correlated with the time to complete the task. The results also showed that the familiarity of the task to subjects had a major effect on their ways to start interaction, query construction, and search patterns.