Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

The Effects Of Semantic And Syntactic Instruction On User Performance And Satisfaction In Search User Interface Design, Jennifer M. Bandos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The design of interfaces to facilitate user search has become critical for search engines, ecommerce
sites, and intranets. This study investigated the use of targeted instructional hints to improve search by measuring the quantitative effects of users' performance and satisfaction.

The effects of syntactic, semantic and exemplar search hints on user behavior were evaluated in an empirical investigation using naturalistic scenarios. Combining the three search hint components, each with two levels of intensity, in a factorial design generated eight search engine interfaces. Eighty participants participated in the study and each completed six realistic search tasks.

Results revealed that the inclusion …