Analyzing the effects of "people also ask" on search behaviors and beliefs

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of collective questions and answers displayed on Search engine result pages (SERP), known as People also ask on searchers' behaviors and beliefs. Two experiments were conducted in which participants were asked to perform health-related search tasks. In both experiments, items in People also ask were manipulated. Experiment 1 focused on the effect of question, answer, and answer's opinion. Experiment 2 focused on the effect of the alternative question, i.e., a question related to the solution that can achieve the same goal as a query. The results revealed the following. (i) Participants issued fewer queries and spent less time on a SERP when People also ask were presented. (ii) Participants were less likely to interact with a SERP when they first encounter a belief-inconsistent answer. (iii) We could not confirm the effect of People also ask on beliefs at the current state. The findings suggest that People also ask might not help mitigate confirmation bias as participants are likely to spend less effort on the search process (i.e., issue fewer queries) when they first encounter a belief-inconsistent answer unlike when they encounter a belief-inconsistent document within the search results. An additional experiment is required to validate that participants who first encounter a belief-inconsistent answer are more likely to alter their beliefs as the number of such participants was inadequate.