Differences between informational and transactional tasks in information seeking on the web

ABSTRACT

We examine the influence of task types on information-seeking behaviors on the Web by using screen capture logs and eye-movement data. Eleven participants performed two different types of web search, an informational task and a transactional task, and their think aloud protocols and behaviors were recorded. Analyses of the screen capture logs showed that the task type affected the participants' informationseeking behaviors. In the transactional task, participants visited more web pages than for the informational task, but their reading time for each page was shorter than in the informational task. A preliminary analysis of eye-movement data for nine participants revealed characteristics of the scanpaths followed in search result pages as well as the distribution of lookzones for each task.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.3 Information Search and Retrieval

Keywords:
eye-movements analysis, information-seeking behavior, task type, user studies, web search