Open AccessOlder adults searching for health information in MedlinePlus – an exploratory study of faceted online search interfaces
Author(s) -
Kules Bill,
Xie Bo
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.2011.14504801137
Subject(s) - information seeking , information seeking behavior , gaze , fixation (population genetics) , interface (matter) , eye tracking , world wide web , online search , exploratory research , exploratory search , health information , psychology , tracking (education) , computer science , medicine , information retrieval , health care , artificial intelligence , sociology , anthropology , population , pedagogy , environmental health , bubble , maximum bubble pressure method , parallel computing , economics , economic growth
Relatively little is known about how older adults search for health information online, particularly via faceted search interfaces that are increasingly prevalent on the web. To begin to address this gap in the literature, we conducted an exploratory study of older adults' use of a faceted search interface, MedlinePlus, to search for health information. The study uses selected measures of click behavior along with eye tracking techniques to examine how searchers with limited online search experience interact with a faceted web search interface. It investigates important aspects of faceted search interfaces, including: searcher gaze behavior (what components of the interface searchers look, how frequently, and for how long); how gaze behavior differs for different health conditions; and how searchers describe their actions. Five older adults aged between 56 and 87 (mean age = 73.5) participated in this study, conducted in a public library, between October and December 2010. Overall participant use of facets was similar to previous findings, approximately 20–30% of fixation counts and total fixation duration. Searchers appeared to use the facets more for more severe health conditions. These findings may be useful for researchers (e.g., to inform models of health information seeking behavior) as well as practitioners (e.g., for improving search interface designs).