Richard A. Sit

Effects of age and training on World Wide Web navigation strategies

The present study examined the effects of age and type of training on efficiency and preferences in a World Wide Web search activity. Older and younger participants received a hands-on Web navigation tutorial or a verbal description of available navigation tools. Participants then searched a 19-page Web site for the answers to nine questions. Older participants were able to complete most of the nine search tasks, but followed more links and scrolled more pages to find the required information than did younger adults. Factors in this inefficiency were patterns of returning to the home page while searching and revisiting previously viewed pages during a single task. Hands-on training was associated with increased use of the more efficient navigation tools. Older adults, especially those who received hands-on training, were more likely to use the “site map” and “index tabs” than were younger adults. Implications for training and Web site design are discussed.

Influences of general computer experience and age on library database search performance

Two experiments examined the effects of general computer experience and age on library system search performance among novice library system users. Twenty younger adults (10 with high and 10 with low computer experience) and 20 older adults (10 with low and 10 with no computer experience) performed 10 search tasks of varying difficulty. Search success, syntax errors, database field specifications, keyword specifications, and use of Boolean operators were examined. Among younger novices, high computer experience was associated with slightly better performance than low computer experience. Among older novices, having some computer experience was associated with much better performance than no computer experience. Older computer users showed lower overall success rates, made more syntax and field specification errors, and demonstrated poorer understanding of Boolean logic and keyword matching algorithms than younger adults with similar computer experience. Implications for interface design and training interventions for novice on-line library system users are discussed.

Age-Related Performance in a Multiple-Task Environment

Younger and older adult participants performed a dynamic multiple-task requiring concurrent processing of 4 independent tasks. Component-task performance emphasis (i.e., task priorities) was biased by differential point allocations across task components. After training, the point structure was modified. Older adults exhibited larger multiple-task performance deficits compared with younger adults; however, the age-related gap in multiple-task performance decreased with practice. The age-related performance difference increased again when task emphasis was changed, but not when demands were changed. Consistent with the training data, the age-related differences diminished again with additional experience on this new task-component emphasis. The data suggest that higher-order, strategic processing may be an important source of age-related differences in complex multiple-task performance. Actual or potential applications of this research include the facilitation of techniques for age-related comprehensive usability testing for products of even moderate complexity

Age group differences in world wide web navigation

In this study, we examined the effects of age and training on efficiency and preferences in a World Wide Web search activity. Older participants were able to complete most of the tasks, but took more steps to find the information than did younger adults. Factors in this inefficiency were patterns of returning to the home page and revisiting pages that had been seen before during a search. Interactive training improved efficiency and altered preferences. We discuss implications for training and design.

Assessing the usability of on-line library systems

Computer-based library systems are becoming pervasive throughout public and university libraries. The purpose of the present study was to survey the users of a representative system to assess the degree to which they used the systems functionality, their difficulties with the system, and their experiences learning the system. The majority of the 966 users of the system made limited use of the more advanced system commands and had difficulty understanding how the system works. Importantly, many of the users reported remotely accessing the system, which has implications for the development of training and help systems. The data from the survey are interpreted in the context of suggestions for design and training improvements for library on-line systems.

Online Library Catalogs: Age-Related Differences in Query Construction and Error Recovery

Online library catalogs have become pervasive in todays library. Unfortunately, these systems have been developed by computer programmers or librarians with little analysis of user behavior on the system. The present study compared the search performance of younger and older adults with general computer experience who were novice online catalog users on a set of ten search tasks of varying difficulty. This study examined types of errors made by novice users in database query construction and subsequent error recovery. Younger adults achieved a higher overall success rate than did older adults and were more efficient in performing these searches. Older adults made more query construction errors and recovered from them less efficiently than did younger adults. These data have important implications for identifying the specific needs, limitations, and capabilities of online library catalog users and the design of online library catalog systems for adults of differing ages.