Mental Models: Have Users' Mental Models of Web Search Engines Improved in the Last Ten Years?

This study investigated the accuracy and completeness of mental models users have of Web search engines in the context of a comparison of matched data obtained from samples from 2000 and 2010. The performance measures time, steps and accuracy were assessed along with 17 salient features of Web search engines identified in the study conducted in 2000. The results indicated that the 2010 sample had improved significantly across all performance measures. The two samples did, however, identify an equal number of salient features (N=7). It was clear from the detailed analyses of the salient features though, that that the accuracy and completeness of users' mental models of search engines had demonstrably improved from 2000. So, while users' mental models of Web search engines still remain largely inaccurate and incomplete, their alignment with designer's conceptualisations has improved.