The widespread use of online search engines to answer the general public’s needs for information has raised concerns about possible biases and the emerging of a ‘filter bubble’ in which users are isolated from attitude-discordant messages. Research is split between approaches that largely focus on the intrinsic limitations of search engines and approaches that investigate user search behavior. This work evaluates the findings and limitations of both approaches and advances a theoretical framework for empirical investigations of cognitive biases in online search activities about health-related topics. We aim to investigate the interaction between the user and the search engine as a whole. Online search activity about health-related topics is considered as a hypothesis-testing process. Two questions emerge: whether the retrieved information provided by the search engines are fit to fulfill their role as evidence, and whether the use of this information by users is cognitively and epistemologically valid and unbiased.

Russo, L., Russo, S. (2020). Search engines, cognitive biases and the man–computer interaction: a theoretical framework for empirical researches about cognitive biases in online search on health-related topics. MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE AND PHILOSOPHY, 23(2), 237-246 [10.1007/s11019-020-09940-9].

Search engines, cognitive biases and the man–computer interaction: a theoretical framework for empirical researches about cognitive biases in online search on health-related topics

Russo, Selena
2020

Abstract

The widespread use of online search engines to answer the general public’s needs for information has raised concerns about possible biases and the emerging of a ‘filter bubble’ in which users are isolated from attitude-discordant messages. Research is split between approaches that largely focus on the intrinsic limitations of search engines and approaches that investigate user search behavior. This work evaluates the findings and limitations of both approaches and advances a theoretical framework for empirical investigations of cognitive biases in online search activities about health-related topics. We aim to investigate the interaction between the user and the search engine as a whole. Online search activity about health-related topics is considered as a hypothesis-testing process. Two questions emerge: whether the retrieved information provided by the search engines are fit to fulfill their role as evidence, and whether the use of this information by users is cognitively and epistemologically valid and unbiased.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Web search engine; Cognitive biases; Information retrieval; Hypothesis testing; Man–machine interaction; Health psychology; Medical Education
English
13-feb-2020
2020
23
2
237
246
reserved
Russo, L., Russo, S. (2020). Search engines, cognitive biases and the man–computer interaction: a theoretical framework for empirical researches about cognitive biases in online search on health-related topics. MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE AND PHILOSOPHY, 23(2), 237-246 [10.1007/s11019-020-09940-9].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/284904
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