Reasons for Information Problem Searching Task Switching

This section elaborates the reasons for the searching tasks switching, that is, what factors incurred users’ action of ceasing to search for or browse information on one task and proceeding with another Web search task. Eight reasons were revealed, based on the analysis of Web search questionnaires and post-Web search interview notes. These are detailed in Table 4-20.

Table 4-20. Reasons for information problem searching task switching

142 Table 4-20. (Continued)

Study

Table 4-21 provides a list of the reasons for study participants’ task switching.

Table 4-21. Summary of reasons for searching tasks switching

Reasons Number %

Enough information was found 34 81

Limited time 23 55

No further useful information could be found 16 38 Useful links/resources were found for further search 9 21

Sufficient time 3 7

Visual cues 2 5

Bored with the current information problem 1 2

Mental fatigue 1 2

Task switching was due to the following reasons: enough information was found, limited time, no further useful information could be found, useful links/resources were found for further search, sufficient time, visual cues, bored with the current information problem, and mental fatigue. Enough information was found and Limited time were the two major reasons.

1). Enough Information was Found

The overwhelming study participants (81%) switched the searching tasks when they were satisfied with the information they had found and believed that the gathered information could solve the current information problem well.

Examples:

• I was happy with the results I got on problem 1, so I moved on to problem 2. (Study Participant 1)

• I’ve found what I wanted. After finding the solution for problem 1, I switched to problem 2. (Study Participant 5)

• I got enough information for problem 1. I was happy with the results I got.

(Study Participant 11)

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2). Limited Time

Over half of the study participants viewed limited time as a factor pushing them to switch between the tasks. The results showed that 74% of the study participants chose number 3, 4, or 5 on the 5-point Likert scale (The number 1 stands for low time pressure, number 5 stands for high time pressure), which means those study participants felt high time pressure during multiple information problems Web searching. Accordingly, they consciously allocated a certain time for each information problem searching.

Examples:

• I needed more time to judge the quality of the returned results, but time was limited, so I moved on to the third problem. (Study Participant 2)

• I was aware that I had only one hour, so consciously I wanted to allocate equal amount of time to all the three problems. (Study Participant 5)

• As time was limited, if I got four or five good articles, I stopped my search.

(Study Participant 7)

• All right, 40 minutes passed, the second problem was done. Now, I had to go on with the third information problem. (Study Participant 10)

• I was not quite satisfied with what I had got from this search, but I decided to try next problem because the time was limited. (Study Participant 42)

3). No Further Useful Information Could be Found

Another 38% of the study participants did not expect that they could find any further useful information on the current information problem. Thus, it was unnecessary to continue searching.

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Examples:

• I did not think I could find any further useful information. No point for the continuing searching. I did not want to waste my time. (Study Participant 3)

• I did not think there were a lot of Websites which had information on the current problem. (Study Participant 16)

4). Useful Links/Resources Were Found for Further Search

About 21% of the study participants believed that some useful links/resources were found which could be traced later, even though the punchy information had not been retrieved yet.

Example:

• I had gathered several related references and added them into my Favourite. Then I checked them out one by one to see whether there was any information I needed. (Study Participant 9)

5). Sufficient Time

Under this circumstance, still some time was left after the last problem searching had been finished. Nearly 7% of the study participants were situated in this case, who went back to the previous problems searching in order to check out further useful information.

Examples:

• I still had a lot of time after I finished searching on the last problem, so I went back to the previous ones to do further searching. (Study Participant 4)

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• Still 40 minutes left, I’d like to find out more detailed information on the first information problem as I had only got a few results about it. (Study Participant 6)

6). Visual Cues

For 5% of the study participants, their task switching was prompted by visual cues. This happened more frequently among several related searching tasks.

Example:

• I found a connection from the current information problem to another one.

Hence, I temporarily stopped the searching on the current problem to this problem. (Study Participant 13)

7). Bored with the Current Information Problem

This reason refers to an emotional factor. Only one study participant’s task switching occurred due to an interest shift when he became bored with the current information problem and attempted to try another one.

Example:

• I got to leave that Marx stuff there because I was bored about it. (Study Participant 4)

•

8). Mental Fatigue

Only one study participant complained that the search process wound down by exhaustion and ended with a whimper. Information overload and mental fatigue were in evidence.

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Example:

• I partially solved problem 2, after that I got tired. So I stopped searching.

(Study Participant 5)

9). Multiple Reasons Applied

Task switching is a humans’ advanced and complicated cognitive activity. In most cases, study participants switched the tasks based on the consideration of multiple factors.

Examples:

• I was happy with the searching results on problem 1 and I switched to problem 2 searching. After searching for a while, I did not think I could find any further useful information. I may need to consult with the professionals instead. So I wished to have some changes and tried problem 3. (Study Participant 26)

Here, two reasons for the tasks switching, “enough information was found” and “no further useful information could be found” were applied.

• I was aware that I had only one hour searching time, so consciously I wanted to allocate equal amount of time to all the three problems. After I found what I wanted for problem 1, I switched to problem 2. I partially solved problem 2, after that I got tired. So I stopped searching. (Study participant 5)

Here, three reasons for the tasks switching, namely, “limited time”,

“enough information was found” and “mental fatigue” were applied.

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