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Calibrating databases

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  • Baruch Fischhoff
  • Donald MacGregor

Abstract

Searching for information in a database typically 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 particular focus on those that may impede effective performance. Applying this perspective to information search provides a set of measures for characterizing performance with different databases and a set of hypotheses for predicting search difficulties. These measures were used and these hypotheses were examined in the context of searching for information in a familiar database, the Statistical Abstract of the United States. Results generally replicated previous findings with other decision‐making tasks and suggested ways to improve performance. For example, subjects had unrealistic expectations regarding their ability to locate information quickly, which might be reduced by having them identify a set of possible locations before focusing on any one. © 1986 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Suggested Citation

  • Baruch Fischhoff & Donald MacGregor, 1986. "Calibrating databases," Journal of the American Society for Information Science, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 37(4), pages 222-233, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamest:v:37:y:1986:i:4:p:222-233
    DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(198607)37:43.0.CO;2-K
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    Cited by:

    1. Azad M. Madni, 2014. "Generating Novel Options during Systems Architecting: Psychological Principles, Systems Thinking, and Computer‐Based Aiding," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 1-9, March.

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