Search Interfaces and Learning about Controversial Topics

Search engine results pages (SERPs) are a frequent gateway to Internet content. Prior research has extensively documented strong effects of SERPs (e.g. rank order or the spatial distribution of the results) on users' attention to and selection of particular Web pages [1,2]. In the context of Web search, a common user behavior is the 'top link' or 'Google trust' heuristic, that is, the inspection and selection of only the first few search results presented by the search engine, without evaluating all other search results available. This heuristic behavior allows users to find information in an efficient way, as search engines tend to provide relevant documents on top of the list, especially when it comes to simple facts. But just relying on the top results of the SERP to access information may not be as efficient when users search for learning purposes about controversial topics, such as climate change, for at least two reasons. First, users can be easily mislead by, for example, commercially biased Web Pages located on top of the SERP [3,4]. Second, by looking at just few hits users miss the opportunity to use SERP information to reflect on the relationships between available web pages, an essential step when learning about controversial topics [5]. An emerging research line is currently exploring the role of SERPs in supporting users from different student populations to search the Internet for learning purposes. Based on a synthesis of existing research, in this talk I will argue that SERPs' design can influence users' perceptions and learning of controversial topics, to the extent that design can counteract the effects of 'top link' heuristic [5,6,7]. In addition, I will show that SERP effects are moderated by users (e.g. prior knowledge) [4,8] and task's characteristics (e.g. task complexity) [3]. Finally, I will present results from a recent short intervention study designed to support users' systematic exploration of SERPs when learning about a controversial topic.