Research on cognitive processes and user interfaces in information retrieving behavior

随着互联网在我们社会的普及，图书馆的OPAC等信息检索系统和搜索引擎已经得到普遍使用。现在大量的信息可以通过个人电脑访问。正因为如此，用户似乎可以获得很多方便。然而，他们实际上并不能有效地获取所需的信息。其中一个原因是检索系统的用户界面存在问题。一般来说，系统是否易于使用可以从可用性的角度来分析。为了改进检索系统的界面，使用户能够方便地访问所需的信息，必须设计高可用性的界面。在这项研究中，我进行了测量眼球运动的实验，以调查检索系统的可用性。研究对象被要求使用公共图书馆的检索系统，并找到指定图书的存放地点。从注视模式的角度记录和分析被试在搜索过程中的眼动轨迹，并对系统的可用性进行评价。通过菜单栏导航方式不同的四个图书馆的检索系统，对无用的动作和时间进行了比较。结果表明，检索效率受页面设计的影响。页面有简单而大的菜单栏，直接的按钮来指示必要的动作，适当的表达式来显示单词的意思，为搜索图书的导航提供了效率。研究结果为设计高可用性检索系统提供了指导。

As the Internet prevails in our society, information retrieval systems like OPAC in the libraries and the search engines have become commonly used. Now the enormous amount of information is accessible by using PCs. Because of this, it seems that users could obtain much convenience. However, they are not actually able to access the information they need efficiently. One of the reasons is that there are problems in the user interface of the retrieval systems. Generally, whether the system is easy to be used or not can be analyzed from the viewpoint of usability. To improve the interface of the retrieval system and to make users access easily to the information they need, we have to contrive interfaces with high usability.In this research I conducted experiments of measuring eye movements in order to investigate the usability of the retrieval systems. Subjects were asked to use the retrieval systems of the public libraries and to find the place where the indicated book was held. Eye tracks of the subjects during searching were recorded and analyzed from the viewpoint of fixation patterns, and the usability of the systems was evaluated. Retrieving systems of the four libraries, which had different navigation by menu bars, were compared with regard to the useless movements and time. The results show that efficiency of the retrieving is influenced by the design of the pages. The pages which have simple and large menu bars, straightforward buttons to indicate the necessary actions, and appropriate expressions to show the meaning of the words offer efficiency in the navigation for searching books. The results suggest the guidelines for designing retrieval systems with high usability.