Result List Actions in Fiction Search
Pertti Vakkari, Janna Pöntinen · 2015
It is studied how users browse search results to find interesting novels for four search scenarios. It is evaluated in particular whether there are differences in search result page (SERP) browsing patterns and effectiveness between an enriched catalog for finding fiction compared to a traditional public library catalog. The data was collected from 30 participants by eye-tracking and questionnaires. The results indicate that the enriched catalog supported users to identify sooner and more effectively potentially clickable items on the results list compared to a traditional public library catalog. This is likely due to the more informative metadata in the enriched catalog like snippets of content description on the result list items. The discussion includes a theoretical and empirical comparison of findings in studies on fiction and non-fiction searching.