The influence of mental models and goals on search patterns during Web interaction

This article reports on a study that uses a new analysis and display tool to examine the influences of understanding the system and goals on end‐user Internet searching. Thirty‐one public library users were observed searching the Web and/or a Web‐based on‐line catalog. The study identified four user categories, distinguished by the number of search approaches employed. These included linking, use of search engines, URL use, on‐line catalog searching, and searching within a specific Web‐site domain. Results conclude that experience and motivation, elements of situational goals and mental models, work in tandem to determine search approaches, Web sites visited, and sources used. People who sought information for job‐related or educational purposes were highly motivated. Thus, they were persistent. Those who had a great deal of Internet experience used an array of tools; while those with immature mental models of the Internet relied more heavily on the Web on‐line catalog or off‐line sources. People seeking information for recreational or personal use were not highly motivated. Whether experienced or not, they relied on serendipity, linking, and other tasks that were not cognitively overbearing. When searching became too difficult, they abandoned the Internet as an information source.