Learning and Training to Search

Abstract

Developing and supporting human search capabilities is at least equally important as developing the capabilities of search engines. Existing academic research suggests that particularly inexperienced users searching the Web utilize only a modest subset of the capabilities that the tools offer and are weak at understanding their real information needs, articulating them in a way that allows for effective searches, and interpreting search results in the context of those needs. This clearly suggests that training users to become better searchers is a worthwhile effort, and that understanding what makes certain search interventions successful and others not is vitally important for enabling users to make effective use of their time. Our review of existing search training literature revealed relatively broadly scattered efforts that, to a large extent, were not programmatic or focused on developing well-defined theoretical models. This makes it difficult to integrate findings from different studies into cohesive bodies of work that would support the development and evaluation of new training interventions. In this chapter, we propose three approaches to using existing areas of research as a theoretical foundation for future work. Namely: a) understanding the nature of search processes is very important if we want to understand search training, because different stages of the search process require different training approaches; b) a thorough analysis of search errors forms a solid foundation for training approaches that helps users avoid the common errors; and c) training research from related disciplines, such as information systems, can be used to introduce new theoretical perspectives and suggest models that are also potentially helpful in search training. Search is pervasive in modern life and performing effective online searches is a fundamentally important literacy skill, not only for 21st century knowledge professionals but for every individual who relies on material available from online sources. Understanding how we, as a research community, can help people become effective searchers is, therefore, of critical importance.