Identifying key elements of search results for document selection in the digital age: An observational study

Academic database systems are vitally important tools for enabling researchers to find relevant, useful articles. Identifying how researchers select documents from search results is an extremely useful measure for improving the functions or interfaces of academic retrieval systems. This study aims to reveal which elements are checked, and in what order, when researchers select from among search results. It consists of two steps: an observational study of search sessions performed by researchers who volunteered, and a questionnaire to confirm whether extracted elements and patterns are used. This article reports findings from the observational study and introduces questions we developed based on the study. In the observational study we obtained data on nine participants who were asked to search for documents using information retrieval systems. The search sessions were recorded using a voice recorder and by capturing screen images. The participants were also asked to state which elements they checked in selecting documents, along with the reasons for their selections. Three patterns of order of checking were found. In pattern 1, seven researchers used titles and abstracts as the primary elements. In pattern 2, the others used titles and then accessed the full text before making a decision on their selection. In pattern 3, one participant searched for images and accessed the full text from the link in those pictures. We also found participants used novel elements for selecting. We subsequently developed items for a questionnaire reflecting the findings.