This research investigates how people’s perceptions of information retrieval (IR) systems,
their perceptions of search tasks, and their perceptions of self-efficacy influence the
amount of invested mental effort (AIME) they put into using two different IR systems: a
Web search engine and a library system. It also explores the impact of mental effort on
an end user’s search experience. To assess AIME in online searching, two experiments were
conducted using these methods: Experiment 1 relied on self-reports and Experiment 2
employed the dual-task technique. In both experiments, data were collected through
search transaction logs, a pre-search background questionnaire, a post-search questionnaire
and an interview. Important findings are these: (1) subjects invested greater mental
effort searching a library system than searching the Web; (2) subjects put little effort into
Web searching because of their high sense of self-efficacy in their searching ability and
their perception of the easiness of the Web; (3) subjects did not recognize that putting
mental effort into searching was something needed to improve the search results; and
(4) data collected from multiple sources proved to be effective for assessing mental effort
in online searching.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102729/1/Rieh_Kim_Markey_IPM2012.pd
