Measuring Learning During Search: Differences in Interactions, Eye-Gaze, and Semantic Similarity to Expert Knowledge

We investigate the relationship between search behavior, eye -tracking measures, and learning. We conducted a user study where 30 participants performed searches on the web. We measured their verbal knowledge before and after each task in a content-independent manner, by assessing the semantic similarity of their entries to expert vocabulary. We hypothesize that differences in verbal knowledge-change of participants are reflected in their search behaviors and eye-gaze measures related to acquiring information and reading. Our results show that participants with higher change in verbal knowledge differ by reading significantly less, and entering more sophisticated queries, compared to those with lower change in knowledge. However, we do not find significant differences in other search interactions like page visits, and number of queries.