AN EMPIRICAL-EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE, COGNITIVE-STYLE, AND STRUCTURE UPON THE PERFORMANCE OF A HYPERTEXT TASK

In an effort to reduce navigation difficulties, recent research sugges ts that user characteristics need to be considered when designing a hy pertext document. This study evaluated the effects of an individual's cognitive characteristics in conjunction with the nature of the hypert ext task. Subjects of varying levels of knowledge and cognitive style, specifically field independence/field dependence, utilized a hypertex t document to answer explicitly and inherently structured questions. A mong other findings, experienced field-dependent subjects' performance was less than that of experienced field-independent subjects', specif ically when explicit structure was provided. The results suggest that the existing knowledge structure of experienced field-dependent subjec ts may conflict with explicitly structured hypertext. Implications for the appropriate design of hypertext systems are discussed.