Searching Intention and Information Outcome: A Case Study of Digital Health Information

A relationship might be expected to occur between the kind of search people say they are undertaking and the information they actually find. For example those with a longstanding illness will have particular information needs and we would expect those needs to be reflected in what they view and what they are interested in. The research reported here uses questionnaire data to establish links between the reason for a user's search and what they actually found. The research confirms that, indeed, people do act rationally and with motivation and that the reason for their visit does have an impact on their information seeking behaviour. This was true for touch screen health information kiosks and for the Internet – the two information platforms featured in the research. The research also pinpoints and evaluates curious and general users as a consumer health information group and examines their information behaviour. Further, four types of Internet users were derived as identified by their topic of interest: ‘Alternative remedy’ user; ‘I want to stay healthy’ user; ‘Keep up to date’ user; and ‘I'm ill but want to know’ user.