Buch, Englisch, Band 7, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 15 mm x 22 mm
Effects on information use, performance and knowledge
Buch, Englisch, Band 7, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 15 mm x 22 mm
Reihe: Utrecht Studies in Language and Communication
ISBN: 978-90-420-0128-2
Verlag: Editions Rodopi
In this study, information use and information effects in software manuals are investigated in three experiments, thereby taking different user types, different task types and different information arrangements into account. A new technique was applied: the click&read method. This technique enables the software user to use the manual and carry out software tasks at the same time while information selection and times are recorded automatically in logfiles.
For the first time, quantitative data are presented about the amounts of procedural and declarative information that were selected and the times that were spent using these information types. Although procedural information is selected more often and used longer, declarative information appears to be a substantial part of the information selection. Moreover, the results show that using declarative information positively affects performance on future tasks, performance on reasoning tasks and factual knowledge.