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A search trail is an interactive visualization of how a previous searcher approached a related task. Using search trails to assist users requires understanding aspects of the task, user, and trails. In this paper, we examine two questions. First, what are task characteristics that influence a user's ability to gain benefits from others' trails? Second, what is the impact of a "mismatch" between a current user's task and previous user's task which originated the trail? We report on a study that investigated the influence of two factors on participants' perceptions and behaviors while using search trails to complete tasks. Our first factor, task scope, focused on the scope of the task assigned to the participant (broad to narrow). Our manipulation of this factor involved varying the number of constraints associated with tasks. Our second factor, trail scope, focused on the scope of the task that originated the search trails given to participants. We investigated how task scope and trail scope affected participants' (RQ1) pre-task perceptions, (RQ2) post-task perceptions, and (RQ3) search behaviors. We discuss implications of our results for systems that use search trails to provide assistance.
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Constrained Retrospective Search
The search for good outcomes–be it government policies, technological breakthroughs, or lasting purchases–takes time and effort. At times, the decision process is unconstrained: an individual seeking a well-priced product determines her search scope and time as she wishes. At times, search is constrained, either through institutions or cognitive limitations. We consider retrospective search in both settings: an agent chooses the search scope and time, selecting the best observed outcome upon stopping. We analyze the impacts of constraints when observed samples are independent and correlated over time.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1949381
- PAR ID:
- 10229182
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- AEA Papers and Proceedings
- Volume:
- 111
- ISSN:
- 2574-0768
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 549 to 553
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20211054
