Navigation in hyperspace: An evaluation of the effects of navigational tools and subject matter expertise on browsing and information retrieval in hypertext

This study examined the effectiveness of a map and a textual contents list on the navigation performance of subjects with and without prior knowledge of the text topic. After reading the text, subjects used the document to answer ten questions. The results showed that performance in the map condition was superior to that of the contents list condition, which in turn was superior to that of the hypertext only condition (no navigational aid). In addition, knowledgeable subjects performed better than non-knowledgeable subjects, except in the map condition where their performance was equivalent. The results also show that non-knowledgeable users tend to rely more heavily on navigational aids than knowledgeable users, and that aids were used primarily during browsing. These results are discussed in relation to the ways in which navigational aids interact with the prior knowledge of the user to enhance or impede performance.