%0 Journal Article %1 Spink:2002:UAE:638644.638650 %A Spink, Amanda %C Tarrytown, NY, USA %D 2002 %I Pergamon Press, Inc. %J Inf. Process. Manage. %K approach engines evaluating evaluation human information interaction paper retrieval search ugc user-centered web %P 401--426 %R 10.1016/S0306-4573(01)00036-X %T A user-centered approach to evaluating human interaction with web search engines: an exploratory study %U http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=638644.638650 %V 38 %X A growing body of studies is developing approaches to evaluating human interaction with Web search engines, including the usability and effectiveness of Web search tools. This study explores a user-centered approach to the evaluation of the Web search engine Inquirus - a Web meta-search tool developed by researchers from the NEC Research Institute. The goal of the study reported in this paper was to develop a user-centered approach to the evaluation including: (1) <i>effectiveness</i>: based on the impact of users' interactions on their information problem and information seeking stage, and (2) <i>usability</i>: including screen layout and system capabilities for users. Twenty-two volunteers searched Inquirus on their own personal information topics. Data analyzed included: (1) user pre- and post-search questionnaires and (2) Inquirus search transaction logs. Key findings include: (1) Inquirus was rated highly by users on various usability measures, (2) all users experienced some level of shift/change in their information problem, information seeking, and personal knowledge due to their Inquirus interaction, (3) different users experienced different levels of change/shift, and (4) the search measure precision did not correlate with other user-based measures. Some users experienced major changes/shifts in various user-based variables, such as information problem or information seeking stage with a search of low precision and vice versa. Implications for the development of user-centered approaches to the evaluation of Web and information retrieval (IR) systems and further research are discussed.

@article{Spink:2002:UAE:638644.638650, abstract = {A growing body of studies is developing approaches to evaluating human interaction with Web search engines, including the usability and effectiveness of Web search tools. This study explores a user-centered approach to the evaluation of the Web search engine Inquirus - a Web meta-search tool developed by researchers from the NEC Research Institute. The goal of the study reported in this paper was to develop a user-centered approach to the evaluation including: (1) <i>effectiveness</i>: based on the impact of users' interactions on their information problem and information seeking stage, and (2) <i>usability</i>: including screen layout and system capabilities for users. Twenty-two volunteers searched Inquirus on their own personal information topics. Data analyzed included: (1) user pre- and post-search questionnaires and (2) Inquirus search transaction logs. Key findings include: (1) Inquirus was rated highly by users on various usability measures, (2) all users experienced some level of shift/change in their information problem, information seeking, and personal knowledge due to their Inquirus interaction, (3) different users experienced different levels of change/shift, and (4) the search measure precision did not correlate with other user-based measures. Some users experienced major changes/shifts in various user-based variables, such as information problem or information seeking stage with a search of low precision and vice versa. Implications for the development of user-centered approaches to the evaluation of Web and information retrieval (IR) systems and further research are discussed.}, acmid = {638650}, added-at = {2012-02-09T15:58:17.000+0100}, address = {Tarrytown, NY, USA}, author = {Spink, Amanda}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a214a4a7d86efeb6fa08f275bea0bb30/griesbau}, description = {A user-centered approach to evaluating human interaction with web search engines}, doi = {10.1016/S0306-4573(01)00036-X}, interhash = {81060735deb40736b1933c2163fab306}, intrahash = {a214a4a7d86efeb6fa08f275bea0bb30}, issn = {0306-4573}, issue = {3}, journal = {Inf. Process. Manage.}, keywords = {approach engines evaluating evaluation human information interaction paper retrieval search ugc user-centered web}, month = may, numpages = {26}, pages = {401--426}, publisher = {Pergamon Press, Inc.}, timestamp = {2012-02-09T15:58:18.000+0100}, title = {A user-centered approach to evaluating human interaction with web search engines: an exploratory study}, url = {http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=638644.638650}, volume = 38, year = 2002 }