A field study characterizing Web‐based information‐seeking tasks

TLDR

Prior work has examined general web user behavior, but few studies have focused on how users navigate and interact with their browsers across different information‑seeking tasks. This study reports how participants’ browser interactions differ across various information‑seeking tasks. We conducted a field study with 21 participants, logged detailed web usage, and asked them to classify sessions into Fact Finding, Information Gathering, Browsing, and Transactions, using implicit measures such as dwell time, page views, and browser navigation actions. We found that Information Gathering tasks were the most complex, requiring longer dwell times, more pages, and heavier use of browser functions, and these results suggest implications for future web‑seeking support and research directions.

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies have examined various aspects of user behavior on the Web, including general information‐seeking patterns, search engine use, and revisitation habits. Little research has been conducted to study how users navigate and interact with their Web browser across different information‐seeking tasks. We have conducted a field study of 21 participants, in which we logged detailed Web usage and asked participants to provide task categorizations of their Web usage based on the following categories: Fact Finding, Information Gathering, Browsing, and Transactions. We used implicit measures logged during each task session to provide usage measures such as dwell time, number of pages viewed, and the use of specific browser navigation mechanisms. We also report on differences in how participants interacted with their Web browser across the range of information‐seeking tasks. Within each type of task, we found several distinguishing characteristics. In particular, Information Gathering tasks were the most complex; participants spent more time completing this task, viewed more pages, and used the Web browser functions most heavily during this task. The results of this analysis have been used to provide implications for future support of information seeking on the Web as well as direction for future research in this area.