title: Understanding strategic usage of 'on-the-job' reference aids.
abstract: The present set of studies examined how reference aids are collectively used to resolve problems. In addition, the present research investigated the strategies employed by documentation users as they resolved work-related questions. Subjects were given a series of questions and asked to locate the answers in a number of different types of documentation. Results of the first experiment indicated that the users' success was largely determined by their adopting an appropriate search heuristic. In the second study, the users were provided with a heuristic during training and their performance was compared with that of an expert user of the documentation. Findings from the second study revealed no difference in accuracy between the subjects and the expert; however, important qualitative strategy differences did exist between the subjects and the expert. The implications of the present results to the design of on-line computerised documentation are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Supervisor, AT&T Systems Evaluation Center, Somerset, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Scerbo
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Fisk