Testing visualization on the use of information systems

Abstract

In this study, we tested how users perceived differently between an information visualization system and a text information retrieval system. A between-subjects user-centered experiment was conducted and 32 subjects participated in this study. The CiteSpace system and the Web of Science system were compared, with the former focuses on visualization output and the latter addresses textual output. The results showed that subjects gave significantly more positive ratings in a majority of measures to the CiteSpace system than the Web of Science system. Results indicate that it would be helpful to consider different visualization techniques to represent and organize information in the design of information retrieval systems.