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A study of users’ performance and satisfaction with the Web of Science IR interface

Department of Information Science and Library Management, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Cliff McKnight

Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, UK, c.mcknight{at}lboro.ac.uk

Charles Oppenheim

Department of Information Science, Loughborough University, UK

This paper reports on an empirical study of users’ performance and satisfaction with the Web of Science interface. Two different search groups (novice and experienced) participated in the study. They carried out seven search tasks and their performance was recorded through transaction logging and computer screen recording. Data were captured on the time taken, search terms used, success score and error rates. After completion of search tasks, they completed a questionnaire on their satisfaction with the interface. The performance data showed that overall experienced users performed better than the novice group. Differences were significant in success score and error rates between the groups. Performance differences also existed on factors such as gender and previous online search training. Experienced female searchers performed best in terms of success score and error rates whereas the novice male group performed worst. Untrained users were more successful and made fewer errors than the trained group. Participants held neither highly positive nor highly negative perceptions about the Web of Science interface. Novice searchers were significantly more satisfied with the interface than the experienced group. Participants also noted both positive and negative features in the interface. This information could be used to redesign the present Web of Science interface.

Key Words: Online information retrieval • Searching • User interface • User satisfaction • Retrieval performance measures • Evaluation • Expert users • Novice users • Web of Science

Journal of Information Science, Vol. 30, No. 5, 459-468 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0165551504047018


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