| This exploratory research investigates the factors that might influence a specific group of users' mental models of a Web search engine, Google, as measured in the dimension of completeness. A modified mental model completeness scale (MMCS) was developed based on Borgman's, Dimitroff s, and Saxon's models, encompassing the perception of (1) the nature of the Web search engine, (2) searching features of the Web search engine, and (3) the interaction between the searcher and the Web search engine. With this scale, a participant's mental model completeness level was determined by how many components of the first two parts of the scale were described and which level of interaction between the participant and Google was revealed during the searches. The choice of the factors was based on the previous studies on individual differences among information seekers, including user's search experience, cognitive style, learning style, technical aptitudes, training received, discipline, and gender.; Sixteen Ph.D. students whose first language is English participated in the research. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted to determine the students' mental model completeness level (MMCL) as well as their search experience, training received, discipline and gender. Direct observation technique was employed to observe students' actual interactions with Google. Standard tests were administered to determine the students' cognitive styles, learning styles and technical aptitudes.; The results show that doctoral students can be differentiated in the dimension of completeness of their mental models. While these students have a relatively complete mental model of many features of Google, they have a relatively poor understanding of its technical aspects, in particular how it indexes and ranks the web pages. Among the factors that were studied, only cognitive style correlated with the MMCL score. That is, the more field independent a doctoral student is, the more complete his/her mental model may be of Google. The results show that the interactivity level between doctoral students and Google (often revealed through their actual searches) can be the manifestation of their perception of the nature and search features of Google. This finding supports earlier research that user behaviour or performance is guided by the user's mental models. |
