Scholarly research process: investigating the effects of link type and directionality

ABSTRACT

Hypertext research has discovered new ways to explore, represent and visualise data and has led to many improvements in the usability and usefulness of systems. However, in the field of scholarly writing research, several studies discuss the need for improving the current state of affairs [18][24][29]. This research aimed to investigate whether typed and/or bi-directional links have an effect on users' performance and confidence when undertaking a literature survey [18], considered one of the phases of a scholarly writing process [29]. Two empirical studies were conducted - a survey and a formal experiment, and results showed that both typed and bi-directional links had significant effect on users' performance and confidence when undertaking common early scholarly writing tasks, specifically benefiting tasks relating to surveying existing literature.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia
          Subjects: Navigation

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia
          Subjects: User issues

General Terms:
Experimentation, Human Factors, Measurement

Keywords:
bi-directional links, hypertext, links, scholarly research process, scholarly writing process, typed links