Abstract:
In this article, we conduct a comparative analysis of web search behaviors in Switzerland and Germany. For this aim, we rely on a combination of web tracking data and survey data collected over a period of 2 months from users in Germany (n = 558) and Switzerland (n = 563). We find that web search accounts for 13% of all desktop browsing, with the share being higher in Switzerland than in Germany. In over 50% of cases users clicked on the first search result, with over 97% of all clicks being made on the first page of search outputs. Most users rely on Google when conducting searches, with some differences observed in users\' preferences for other engines across demographic groups. Further, we observe differences in the temporal patterns of web search use between women and men, marking the necessity of disaggregating data by gender in observational studies regarding online information seeking behaviors. Our findings highlight the contextual differences in web search behavior across countries and demographic groups that should be taken into account when examining search behavior and the potential effects of web search result quality on societies and individuals.
摘要:
在这篇文章中,我们对瑞士和德国的网络搜索行为进行了比较分析。为了这个目标,我们依赖于网络跟踪数据和调查数据的组合,这些数据在2个月内从德国(n=558)和瑞士(n=563)的用户那里收集。我们发现网络搜索占所有桌面浏览的13%,瑞士的份额高于德国。在超过50%的案例中,用户点击了第一个搜索结果,超过97%的点击是在搜索输出的第一页上进行的。大多数用户在进行搜索时都依赖Google,在不同人口统计组的用户对其他引擎的偏好中观察到一些差异。Further,我们观察到男女网络搜索使用的时间模式的差异,在有关在线信息寻求行为的观察性研究中,标记按性别分列数据的必要性。我们的发现强调了不同国家和人口群体网络搜索行为的背景差异,在检查搜索行为以及网络搜索结果质量对社会和个人的潜在影响时,应考虑这些差异。