Informationsselektion mit Suchmaschinen

Search engines have established themselves as the central means of searching for information online. This book examines which criteria are important for the selection of search results when Internet users search for information using search engines. For this purpose, the book systematises and combines both the search process and relevant factors which influence selection decisions in a model that describes the effect of various influences on the individual steps in the search process. In three preliminary studies and one main study, each following an experimental design and relying on the automated recording of search behaviour, it empirically tests selected steps in the model. The results of this show that ranking acts as the dominant influence in the selection of search results. However, source characteristics and individual attributions (e.g. the perceived credibility of search results) also have a distinct influence on the search process.