| The study aimed to answer the compelling question: "What makes an efficient Web searcher?" Based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, Research Question No. 1 asks "How do self-efficacy, problem-solving confidence, and the use of Google's Advanced Search affect timely successful Web searching?" Based on Newell and Simon's problem space theory, Research Question No. 2 asks "Do efficient searchers share the same mental organization of keyword importance as the non-efficient searchers?" And Research Question No. 3 asks "Is a higher level of search performance characterized by increasingly consistent mental organizations of keyword importance?";Participants searched the Web using Google. Each had up to 30 minutes to find the answer to the task: "How did Taiwan's native (aboriginal) people communicate in writing from roughly 200 to 400 years ago?" Data analyses involved survival analysis for RQ1 with 86 subjects; TRICIR and t-test for RQ2 and Kendall's concordance of coefficient for RQ3 with 88 subjects.;I tested five hypotheses. For RQ1, I found that Google's Advanced Search hurts timely successful Web searching, that self-efficacy helps, and that confidence does not help. For RQ2, I found that there is a significant difference in mental organization of keyword importance in two levels of search performance. For RQ3, I found that the efficient searchers have higher consensus in the mental organization of keyword importance than those of non-efficient searchers. In summary, I suggest what not to do---do not use Google's Advanced Search, and what to do---form a what I call "Decisive Problem Space" prior to searching with Google. |
