A Grounded Theory Approach for Modelling the Knowledge Construction Process in Exploratory Search
Ping Liu, Feiwen Li, Zhiwei Yang · 2020
Searching on the Web is not only an issue of finding answers to a specific question. In fact, searching is closely related to learning and users intend to increase their knowledge about new topics. To better understand users' knowledge construction process in exploratory search, we conducted a qualitative user study with 25 participants from a variety of domains. We collected data from audio and video recordings of think-aloud sessions and semi-structured interviews. The preliminary findings reveal a number of core processes, such as knowledge nodes, knowledge communities and knowledge networks, each of them composes several activities. Based on this findings, a conceptual model of knowledge construction process in exploratory search is presented.