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11 Oct 12
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Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems.
Although some analysts previously questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
One recent study participant referred to "my old friend Google" as the place to go when given a task — a remarkable indication of how closely people are tied to search these days.
During our user testing in Asia-Pacific last month, I watched users conduct more than 100 searches for a broad range of tasks. Only once did I see a user change strategy.
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Still, the rough estimate from our available data is obvious: users change search strategy only 1% of the time; 99% of the time they plod along a single unwavering path. Whether the true number is 2% or 0.5%, the big-picture conclusion is the same: users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web.
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It also highlights a big problem with search today: it doesn't facilitate any conceptual knowledge because it relies on quick in–out dips into websites.
Changing Research Strategy: An Example
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This example offers a striking case of confused mental models.
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Our recent research yielded only a single positive case study. In it, our test participant was trying to discover whether a friend had a cold or influenza given various symptoms (such as a sore throat).
At first, the user searched for symptoms, describing them in various ways. These simple query reformulations don't count as a strategy change because they were essentially variants on a single approach. (Without watching hours of video, I can't say exactly how many users in our study changed the phrasing of their general queries, but it was fairly common — about 10–20% of the time.)
Searching for symptoms was a singularly unfruitful approach. Our user was swamped with a progression of quack sites describing various superstitions and homemade remedies. Most of these were quite well-meaning discussion groups and patient support sites, but the content definitely didn't represent current medical science or trustworthy advice.
It's sad to think of the vast number of patients who get misleading medical guidance from the Internet because the main search engines currently prioritize popular sites instead of useful ones.
After a while, the user realized he was getting nowhere by searching for symptoms. He thus reversed his research strategy and started searching for the diseases, hoping to identify and differentiate symptoms between the two. This was much more successful; he found several reputable medical sites with decent symptom descriptions.
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- Don't assume that advanced search will help your website; you might build such features, but people will use them only in exceptional cases.
- Spend the vast majority of your resources on improving regular search (simple search).
Advanced Search: Not Used
Another test participant was a lawyer who was preparing a presentation about the implications of a controversial court decision that had been handed down a few months prior to the study session. His goal was to find out what other experts had said about the decision.Searching for various keywords that described the case, the lawyer easily found many sites with pertinent information, including news media coverage, blog discussions, and whitepapers from other law firms. However, almost all of these were written when the ruling came out and contained no analysis of the decision's long-term repercussions. They basically stated the decision and why it was good and/or bad.
Although most users never go beyond the first search engine results page (SERP), our poor user waded through many pages of SERP listings, demonstrating a valiant desire to find newer coverage.
Considering that his main criterion was recency, our user could have chosen a much easier approach: using an advanced search to filter the results by date. However, he never did so. (Remember, this was a lawyer — a highly educated person who regularly manages large amounts of information. Average users would have been in an even worse situation.)
In general, we almost never see people use advanced search. And when they do, they typically use it incorrectly — partly because they use it so rarely that they never really learn how it works.
The lessons are clear:
One-Track Research Strategy: An Example
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The sidebar details an example of a user expending substantial effort with little result because she didn't modify her research strategy. The user racked up 22 pageviews across 8 different sites (including the search engine) trying to find the most populous city in the world. She did find an answer, but decided on it for the wrong reasons and without understanding the underlying problem — that there are two ways of counting city populations: with and without suburbs.
This outcome is all the more striking because the user was a schoolteacher who emphasized the need to teach students to critically evaluate online information sources.
Some users simply take the first answer they stumble across and run with it. But more careful users — like the teacher in this example — usually end up spending more time without much more benefit because they're limited by the search engine results.
After finding several widely diverging estimates of "biggest city" (ranging from 12 million to 34 million people), it would have been reasonable to change the research strategy and try to find an authoritative site on the topic of urban populations. Such a shift would likely have provided more insight than relying on the simplified lists posted on many sites that specialize in other topics and don't explain how they derive their data.
Search Is Too Good
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The problem in the above examples — and for many other users in our recent tests — is that search engines are turning into "answer engines." Users are being trained to limit themselves to pages included in the SERP listing. Indeed, for many problems, the actual answer is right there. But the concept that you might have to sometimes go beyond search listings is getting lost.
For many problems, there are better approaches than simply scrolling to the bottom of the SERP. You might, for example, try to locate a site that specializes in the problem. Or — as in our cold/flu symptom problem — you might simply change the way you think about the problem.
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- For today's Web design projects, we must design for the way the world is, not the way we wish it were. This means accepting search dominance, and trying to help users with poor research skills. For example, sites listing city populations could state explicitly that there are two ways to estimate population, rather than simply offer a single estimate without further explanation. And proper medical sites could design pages for how patients search for information, rather than for how doctors think about it.
Sadly, when one approach is so easy (and works much of the time), users never develop the research skills needed to try or even consider other approaches.
What can we do about this?
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In the long term, we should try to improve the world rather than design to suit its shortcomings. One example of how we might do this is to teach better Internet research skills in schools.
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14 May 12
victoria waddleAlthough some analysts previously questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
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07 May 12
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24 Oct 11
eija_hukkaSummary:
Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems. -
05 Oct 11
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07 Aug 11
Mrs BondOverview of ongoing research on user web search. Highlights the big reasons why we MUST teach good search and evaluation strategies (on and off line) from an early age. Major areas of concern: Unchanging and ineffective search strategies, little or incorr
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Michele BondOverview of ongoing research on user web search. Highlights the big reasons why we MUST teach good search and evaluation strategies (on and off line) from an early age. Major areas of concern: Unchanging and ineffective search strategies, little or incorr
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04 Jul 11
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18 Jun 11
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14 Jun 11
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31 May 11
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24 May 11
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08 May 11
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And proper medical sites could design pages for how patients search for information, rather than for how doctors think about it
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04 May 11
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03 May 11
Jackie WernerUsers are not very good at searching the internet, and that severely limits the usefulness of search results in many cases. According to this, web designers should design for how users actually search, not how we organize our information or think they sho
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02 May 11
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01 May 11
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Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
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users change search strategy only 1% of the time; 99% of the time they plod along a single unwavering path. Whether the true number is 2% or 0.5%, the big-picture conclusion is the same: users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web.
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In general, we almost never see people use advanced search. And when they do, they typically use it incorrectly — partly because they use it so rarely that they never really learn how it works.
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Spend the vast majority of your resources on improving regular search (simple search).
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we must design for the way the world is, not the way we wish it were.
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28 Apr 11
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27 Apr 11
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26 Apr 11
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25 Apr 11
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22 Apr 11
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21 Apr 11
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Christopher BurdDepressing: "Users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills" (Jakob Nielsen). http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search-skills.html
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20 Apr 11
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Advanced Search: Not Used
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In the long term, we should try to improve the world rather than design to suit its shortcomings. One example of how we might do this is to teach better Internet research skills in schools.
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ng for symptoms was a singularly unfruitful approach. Our user was swamped with a progression of quack sit
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Joyce PaisleyToday, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
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19 Apr 11
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Howard RheingoldSummary: Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems.
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Martha HardyStill, the rough estimate from our available data is obvious: users change search strategy only 1% of the time; 99% of the time they plod along a single unwavering path. Whether the true number is 2% or 0.5%, the big-picture conclusion is the same: users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web.
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npclibraryIronically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer...
It's sad to think of the vast number of patients who get misleading medical guidance from the Internet because the main search engines currently prioritize popular sites instead of useful ones. -
James PomykalskiJakob Nielsen's Alertbox on Research Skills and Problem Sovling
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18 Apr 11
Marita ThomsonAlthough some analysts questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
One recent study participant referred to "my old friend Google" as the place to go when given a task — a remarkable indication of how closely people are tied to search these days.
During our user testing in Asia-Pacific last month, I watched users conduct more than 100 searches for a broad range of tasks. Only once did I see a user change strategy. -
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people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer
-
users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web
-
In general, we almost never see people use advanced search. And when they do, they typically use it incorrectly — partly because they use it so rarely that they never really learn how it works.
-
-
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many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities.
-
the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
-
users change search strategy only 1% of the time; 99% of the time they plod along a single unwavering path.
-
users have extraordinarily inadequate research skills when it comes to solving problems on the Web.
-
most users never go beyond the first search engine results page
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we almost never see people use advanced search. And when they do, they typically use it incorrectly
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Some users simply take the first answer they stumble across and run with it.
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search engines are turning into "answer engines." Users are being trained to limit themselves to pages included in the SERP listing.
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Roland Gesthuizen"Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer."
research search searchengine eLearing informationliteracy Google
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In general, we almost never see people use advanced search. And when they do, they typically use it incorrectly — partly because they use it so rarely that they never really learn how it works.
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any problems, the actual answer is right there. But the concept that you might have to sometimes go beyond search listings is getting lost
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or many problems, the actual answer is right there. But the concept that you might have to sometimes go beyond search listings is getting lost
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Sadly, when one approach is so easy (and works much of the time), users never develop the research skills needed to try or even consider other approaches.
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17 Apr 11
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BRMS LibrarianResults of research study (for designing web pages) that discusses poor search skills
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16 Apr 11
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Although some analysts questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, the more dangerous it gets as people increasingly assume that whatever the search engine coughs up must be the answer.
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15 Apr 11
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Sally Dooleydiscusses how web design needs to change to compensate for inadequate search skills.
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search engine results page
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Lark Birdsong"Summary:
Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems. " -
14 Apr 11
Avi@ Search Tools ConsultingResults from a usability test - only 1% of the time did users change search strategy. So search engines need to concentrate on improving reliability of simple search results.
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Rhondda PowlingA good short piece about how users search, and the importance of teaching information literacy in schools. One problem with search engines is that they are too good at finding information. The users see them as "answer engines" but the users may then do less critical analysis and rely on simple strategies only
research skills Information Literacy internet research internet search strategies
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13 Apr 11
BPL Info Commons"Users increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems."
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Ruth ParlinAlthough some analysts questioned the finding of search dominance, it's a user behavior that gets stronger every year. Today, many users are so reliant on search that it's undermining their problem-solving abilities. Ironically, the better search gets, th
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marika pinedaCould use some of these ideas as background for an IL assignment on web evaluation. Note the example of searching for the world's most populous city without understanding how statistics are gathered.
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12 Apr 11
Keith HamonUsers increasingly rely on individual pages listed by search engines instead of finding better ways to tackle problems.
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