Cognitive mechanisms in sensemaking: A qualitative user study

Throughout an information search, a user needs to make sense of the information found to create an understanding. This requires cognitive effort that can be demanding. Building on prior sensemaking models and expanding them with ideas from learning and cognitive psychology, we examined the use of cognitive mechanisms during individual sensemaking. We conducted a qualitative user study of 15 students who searched for and made sense of information for business analysis and news writing tasks. Through the analysis of think‐aloud protocols, recordings of screen movements, intermediate work products of sensemaking, including notes and concept maps, and final reports, we observed the use of 17 data‐driven and structure‐driven mechanisms for processing new information, examining individual concepts and relationships, and detecting anomalies. These cognitive mechanisms, as the basic operators that move sensemaking forward, provide in‐depth understanding of how people process information to produce sense. Meaningful learning and sensemaking are closely related, so our findings apply to learning as well. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the sensemaking process—how people think—and this better understanding can inform the teaching of thinking skills and the design of improved sensemaking assistants and mind tools.