Age-Dependent Web Search Behavior in Defined and Ill-Defined Health Tasks

A study by Wai‐Tat Fu at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign compares web search performance between younger and older adults. The research involved participants using a health information website to complete both ill-defined and well-defined information tasks. Path models were used to analyze how cognitive abilities, health literacy, and knowledge influenced the search strategies adopted by the two age groups.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between cognitive abilities and search strategy based on the described path analysis.
• Comparing task performance across age groups for well-defined versus ill-defined information needs.
• Studying compensatory strategies in older adults, such as the adoption of a top-down knowledge-driven approach.
• Informing the design of information systems based on the discussed design implications for different user profiles.

Strengths

• Data is derived from a controlled study comparing two distinct age groups.
• Analysis includes both performance metrics and behavioral strategies like top-down knowledge-driven search.
• Study design incorporates both ill-defined and well-defined information tasks for comparison.

Limitations

• Row count and specific column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Data may reflect participant bias inherent to the specific study design on paperswithcode.

Provenance

Source

Wai‐Tat Fu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Collection Method

Controlled study involving younger and older adults completing web search tasks on a health information website.