End‐users searching the online catalogue: the influence of domain and system knowledge on search patterns
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045321 |
| Published date | 01 June 1994 |
| Date | 01 June 1994 |
| Pages | 335-343 |
| Author | Kiestra,M.J.W. Stokmans,J. Kamphuis |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
End-users searching the
online catalogue: the
influence of domain and
system knowledge on
search patterns
M.D. Kiestra,
M.J.W.
Stokmans
and J. Kamphuis
Tilburg
University,
Department
of
Language and
Literature,
PO
Box
90153,5000
LE
Tilburg,
The
Netherlands.
E-mail:
maaike.kiestra @pica.nl
Abstract:
In order to test the impact
of
system
and domain
knowledge on search
behaviour
in an online
catalogue,
an
experiment
was set up in a university library where students
from
three specialisation
areas performed
a
number of
search
tasks
in the online
catalogue.
The subjects
differed in
the
amount
of
domain
and
system
knowledge.
In two
sessions the
subjects performed
searches inside
and outside
their
'own'
domain.
During
the first
session
all
subjects had
little system
knowledge.
After the
first
session,
half of the
group received instruction in catalogue use
and
the other
half did
not.
To observe whether the
induced
differences in
system knowledge
had
effects on the
search
performance,
a
second
session was
carried
out.
Subjects'
search behaviour
was
videotaped and their
comments recorded (they were
encouraged
to think
aloud).
Results show
the
the amount
of
system knowledge
had a
significant effect on search time as well as on the
number of
search
patterns
observed.
Regarding domain
knowledge,
only one out
of
the six analyses concerning search time or
the amount
of patterns yielded
a significant
effect.
A
possible
explanation for
this result
could
be the
questionable validity
of
the criteria
used
to distinguish
between known
and
unknown
domains.
The difference in
knowledge
regarding familiar
and
unfamiliar
domains is
not as large as
had
been
expected.
The notion
of end-users
displaying habitual modes
of
behaviour
is given
considerable support
by
the
data.
This is
reflected
by the
limited number of patterns
observed.
1.
Introduction
The development and use of electronic information retrieval
systems in libraries has proliferated enormously in recent
years.
However, it
is
often noted that
the
design of
these
sys-
tems
is not
as
user friendly
as
it could
be
(e.g.
Baker & Lancas-
ter
1991).
This relies on the
fact
that it is
often
the
designer in
cooperation
with
library
experts
who
designs
the
system.
This
leads to the situation in which the design of user-oriented in-
terfaces is mainly based on implicit
ideas
of human informa-
tion processing and on the experiences of the designers
themselves,
instead of taking
the search
behaviour of
the
end-
users as a starting point. This method of designing interfaces
possibly is caused by the difficulties encountered in circum-
scribing patterns in
the
search behaviour of end-users, which
is often viewed as a continuing process of
trial
and error, as
Bosnian et
al.
(1992) already noted. The latter sounds like a
contradiction to the often-heard notion of human beings de-
pending heavily
on
habitual behaviour, saving time
and
effort
by relying on routine and recurring modes of behaviour.
These habits may express themselves in a limited number
of
search patterns.
The
point
made here is
that user-friendly interfaces
can be
improved by facilitating the search routines provided by the
system. Therefore it is necessary to uncover search patterns
actually used by end-users and to identify possibly interven-
ing variables.
From
a
consumer research point of
view,
searching
a
cata-
logue can be compared to the information acquisition phase
within the consumer decision-making process (for an
elabo-
rate description of the consumer decision-making
process,
see
for example Betunan
(1979)).
During
the process of searching
for information and deciding whether the information found
is
useful or
not,
different
kinds
of knowledge
are
used;
among
them are knowledge of facts (declarative knowledge) and
knowledge of procedures (Anderson
1983).
Declarative
(what/who) knowledge may comprise
names
of
authors worth
searching for, and procedural (how) knowledge regards how
to use these names in the
catalogue
to
find
titles.
It
is
difficult
to separate the effects of declarative and procedural knowl-
edge;
probably
the two kinds
of knowledge
are
interrelated.
Knowledge is viewed as a key variable in information
searching
processes (Allen
1991a). Variables often mentioned
are knowledge of the retrieval system (system knowledge)
and knowledge of
the
domain (domain knowledge). System
knowledge changes, for example, by using different online
catalogue systems or by following an instruction. Domain
knowledge comprises the subject matter one wishes to ac-
quire information about (Allen 1991a) and therefore varies
with the subject for which information is searched. The as-
sumption made here is that both domain and system knowl-
edge are
comprised of declarative
and
procedural knowledge.
This could
be an
indication of a possible interrelationship be-
The Electronic Library, Vol. 12, No. 6, December 1994 335
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