COGNITIVE STYLES AND SEARCHING

Sixty-seven searchers carried out 275 searches, both with and without postings information, of a LISA CDROM. This provided an opportunity to investigate the effect of cognitive styles on searching behaviour which has substantial implications both for the teaching of searching and for search system design. Subjects were tested for field-dependence/field-independence and for Comprehension/Operation/Versatile learning styles. Statistically significant differences in both searching behaviour and search outcomes were obtained by those with different learning styles, with and without postings information. These results are presented and implications for training are discussed.