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“Do users do what they think they do?” –

“Do users do what they think they do?” – a comparative study of user perceived and actual information searching behaviour in the National electronic Library of Infection (NeLI). Anjana Roy 1, 2 , Patty Kostkova 1 , Mike Catchpole 2 & Ewart Carson 1.

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“Do users do what they think they do?” –

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  1. “Do users do what they think they do?” – a comparative study of user perceived and actual information searching behaviour in the National electronic Library of Infection (NeLI) Anjana Roy 1, 2, Patty Kostkova1, Mike Catchpole2& Ewart Carson1 1City ehealth Research Centre and Centre for Health Informatics, City University, Northamption Square, London. UK Anjana.Roy@hpa.org.uk 2Health Protection Agency 61 Colindale Avenue Colindale London NW9 5EQ

  2. Outline of presentation • Introduction – importance of evaluation • Research questions • Methodology • Website & navigation structure • Study design • Results • Limitations of study • Conclusions & implementations

  3. Medical websites provide eHealth professionals Challenging issues & different responsibilities Evidence based information Demand of regular evaluation Understanding of underlying issues of user satisfaction Informed decision Ease of navigation Content Healthcare websites - importance of evaluation

  4. Research Questions: • Difference between perceived (reported) and actual (observed) searching behavior? • Which navigation strategy most popular? • Within each navigation strategy most popular options? • Did users find answers to their queries? • Was there an information seeking behavior pattern?

  5. Web site used as test bed – National electronic Library of Infection • The aim of NeLI is to provide a single information gateway in a portal of evidence based information. • Information related to investigation, diagnosis treatment and management of infection and communicable diseases.

  6. NeLI Navigation Structure Snap shot of “Browse” options available on NeLI during study period

  7. NeLI Navigation Structure Snap shot of “Search” options available on NeLI during study period

  8. Study design Weblog report On-line questionnaires • IP addresses of respondents were used to track their navigation . • Answers were compared with the weblogs.

  9. 1. Was there any difference between perceived (reported) and actual (observed) searching behavior? • Questionnaires and weblog answers compared by kappa measurement of agreement. • The mean of the agreement was 0.59 - moderate agreement between answers in the questionnaire and actual behavior recorded on weblog

  10. Cases where the users reported and navigation behaviour did not match • Users were ‘observed’ used combination of navigational options while reporting only one option. • Users reported using a different navigation technique e.g. they reported using ‘search’ but used ‘Browse option’. • Possible explanation: • The most likely explanation is web space disorientation. Recommendation: Make the navigation access points clearer and simpler to understand

  11. 2. How did the users seek their information – searching or browsing? • According to weblogs both search and browse are equally. • Respondents are more likely to report or recall searching activity rather than browsing.

  12. 3. Within each navigation strategy most popular options? • Overall, most users reported their methods of navigation accurately. • “Browse” - no significant difference in the choice of choice of options available. • “Search” – the ‘Free Text Search’ was not used at all

  13. 4. Were the users able to find the answers to the queries? Questionnaire : All the users reported that they were able to find the answers to their questions. Web logs: indicated that all respondents did access a page of their interest as reported in their questionnaire. One exception ………………………. • Users understand and are able to navigate the website as expected by the developers. • Information on diverse aspects of infectious diseases available on NeLI.

  14. 5. Was there any information seeking behavior pattern typical of certain users? • 80% of the respondents visited other pages of interest after submitting questionnaire. • Web logs: 93% of those who visited these other sites used “browse”. • 27% used “Top 10 Topics”. Recommendations: Need to identify “Top 25 Topics” in infectious diseases.

  15. Limitations of the study • External web site when accessed from cannot be tracked using the available web logs. • Questionnaire has excluded “how users would surf NeLI”. • Sample size limited.

  16. Conclusions • Moderate agreement between answers in the questionnaire and actual behavior recorded on web log. • According to web logs both search and browse are used equally. • Respondents are more likely to report or recall searching activity rather than browsing. • Users understand and are able to navigate the website retrieve information on ‘question of interest’. • When surfing though NeLI their preference was to browse, using “Top 10 Topics.

  17. Implementation of recommendations to actions: Navigation access points clearer and simpler to understanding NeLI now has a list of 30 Infectious Diseases as an independent navigation item.

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