社会与工程心理学研究室知识库

随着信息时代的迅速发展，互连网已成为一个重要的信息源。如何帮助人们有效在互连网的超文本环境中获取信息已成为人因学研究中的一个前沿问题。本研究从信息结构的角度和从用户个体认知风格的角度对这一问题做了探讨。在本研究中一个关于在设计信息结构中应考虑用户个体因素的信息结构的表征模型被提出。这个模型包括任务类型，用户对信息结构的熟悉性和用户个体认知风格三个维度。
本研究包括两部分的内容:一是信息结构设计对获取信息的影响。二是从用户时间认知风格的角度探讨信息结构设计对获取信息的影响。在第一部分中通过6个实验研究任务类型，信息性质和用户是否熟悉信息结构对信息结构设计的影响。任务类型是指自然浏览任务和探索任务;信息性质在本研究中是指自然科学知识和非自然科学知识;用户是否熟悉信息结构是比较用户在不熟悉和熟悉信息结构的情况下，使用不同信息结构对获取信息有效性的影响。第二部分的研究是在第一部分实验数据的基础上，通过用户个体不同时间认知风格类型的角度进行分析，探讨探索任务时，不同个体的时间认知风格如何与信息结构交互的影响获取信息。
本研究通过实验室实验，可用性实验和问卷测评相结合的方法，对这些问题进行了探讨，得到以下结论:
1)任务类型影响在超文本环境中使用不同信息结构获取信息，不同的信息结构适用于不同的任务。对于单纯的搜索任务，层次结构表现出优越性;而对于与信息理解和记忆有关的任务，网状结构表现出优越性。
2)用户对信息结构的熟悉程度影响在超文本环境中使用不同信息结构获取信息。当用户熟悉信息结构时，网状结构表现出较好的绩效。
3)不同的个体用户具有不同的信息组织结构。用户个体的时间认知风格类型影响在不同条件下使用不同信息结构获取信息。根据用户个体的时间认知风格特征进行信息建构会帮助用户获取信息。

    The Internet takes a more and more important role for accessing information. But if all that content is not accompanied by organization it won't be of much help. The way we organize information defines the way we understand it. Hence how to provide information efficiently in this complex net of information has been one of the most important fields in Human Computer Interaction.
    In this research a three-dimensional conceptual model was proposed which represents the underpinning cognitive attributes which should be embedded in information structure design. The model consists of task types, familiar with the information structure and individual cognitive style differences.
    Two studies were conducted to test the model. The first one investigated how to design the information structures under different conditions in an information retrieval application. Hierarchical and network structures were of particular interest. Six experiments were designed to probe the issues of task types (exploratory vs.browsing); information nature (science knowledge vs. non-science knowledge) and whether users are clear about the information structure or not, which may affect efficiency of information retrieval using hierarchical or network structure. The second investigated the information structure design from the individual difference viewpoint.
    The data in first study were reanalyzed according to participants' different time cognitive styles. The purpose of this study is to probe whether individual users have different information structure and how to design information structures for individual users under different conditions.
    The laboratory experiments, usability testing and questionnaire were used in this research. Main conclusions of this research are as follows:
    1) The task type affects .the  information  structures  on the efficiency of  browsing task participants of the network structure performed better than       those of the hierarchical structure.
    2) Whether users are aware of the information structure or not affects the     information structures on the efficiency of information retrieval. When users       are aware of the information structures the network structure benefits the efficiency of information retrieval.
    3) Different individuals have different information organization  structures. Individuals' time cognitive style affect information structures on the efficiency of information retrieval. It will benefit the efficiency of information retrieval to design the information structures based on user individual cognitive styles.