LE3 .A278 2006

2006

Symons, Sonya

Acadia University

Master of Science

Masters

Psychology

Psychology

The purpose of the present study was to explore how various levels of choice impact older adults while they are searching for health information on the Internet. In order to investigate this issue, 83 adults over the age of 55 were asked to perform two Internet search tasks, which involved finding treatment information about health conditions. During the first search, half of the participants ('n' = 41) were given a choice of four possible health topics (limited choice), and the other half ('n' = 42) were assigned one of the same four topics by the experimenter (no choice). During the second search, all participants were asked to generate their own health topic (free choice). Immediately following each search, participants were asked to complete a series of questionnaires designed to measure affect, task interest, topic interest, and topic knowledge. Findings revealed that participants who were given limited choice were faster and more efficient web searchers than those given no choice. It was also found that when participants were given free choice, they reported significantly higher ratings of affect and topic interest. No differences were found on measures of cognitive engagement for any level of choice.

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