Think-Aloud Exploratory Search: Understanding Search Behaviors and Knowledge Flows

Abstract

This paper describes an experiment that uses Concurrent Think-Aloud protocol (CTA) and person-to-person interviews to map searching behaviors and knowledge flows during search sessions. The findings are: (1) the most used searching strategy during exploratory searches was the “Metacognitive Domain”; and (2) online searching experts have a fair ability to deal with ideas prompted by browsing the search results. The main contributions of this research lie in the understanding of the process in which people find, access, decide what content is useful and apply online data to their different information needs.