Calibrating Databases

Searching for information in a database usually involves a series of decisions, as one chooses among alternative places to look. Behavioral decision theory investigates the cognitive processes involved in decision making, with a special focus on those that may impede effective performance. Applying...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology Vol. 37; no. 4; p. 222
Main Authors Fischhoff, Baruch, MacGregor, Donald
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hoboken Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.07.1986
Subjects
Behavioral decision theory
Cognition
Cognitive
Cognitive Processes
Database Management Systems
Decision making
Decision theory
Factors
Hypotheses
Online
Performance enhancement
Questionnaires
Searches
Searching
Studies
Systems design
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN2330-1635
2330-1643

Cover

More Information
Summary:Searching for information in a database usually involves a series of decisions, as one chooses among alternative places to look. Behavioral decision theory investigates the cognitive processes involved in decision making, with a special focus on those that may impede effective performance. Applying this perspective to information search yields a set of measures for characterizing performance with different databases and a set of hypotheses for predicting search difficulties. These measures are employed and these hypotheses are examined in the context of searching for information in a familiar database, the Statistical Abstract of the US. Questionnaires concerning the database were completed by 109 subjects. Results generally duplicated previous findings with other decision-making tasks and indicated ways to improve performance. For instance, it was found that subjects had unrealistic expectations regarding their ability to locate information quickly.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:2330-1635
2330-1643