Stopping Information Search: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this study was to systematically examine dimensions, aspects, and levels of search stopping in the literature in order to identify gaps in the field.

Research reports on the subject published between 1961-2020 were identified in databases. The contents of 60 studies found were thematically analysed in terms of basic, organizing, and comprehensive concepts.

The reviewed studies have identified two stopping levels, namely session-level stopping and query-level/ result- summary- level stopping. At the latter level, the search session does not stop permanently, but the user continues searching after refining the query. The studies also referred to another stopping method labeled as “search- engine- result- page- level stopping” in which the user leaves the result page without clicking on any result after making a general inference of the search results. Then, the user may or may not continue searching after refining the query. Here, we are not dealing with another level of stopping, but only the time of making decision to stop is changed. Most of the 60 studies we identified dealt with session-level stopping. Identifying stopping rules, examining the application of stopping rules in various contexts, identifying the factors affecting search stopping or query stopping, checking search- engine- result- page- level stopping, examining the depth of users' search, distinguishing between stopping due to satisfaction or frustration, and exploring search stopping signs were dimensions of search stopping studied in the literature.  Stopping rules included satisfaction and frustration, magnitude threshold, difference threshold, representational stability, mental list, and single criterion. Also, factors affecting stopping search included time constraints, search task structure, information scent, user interface features, importance of the task to the users, motivation, domain knowledge, interest in the topic, need for closure and need for cognition.

Our review showed that studies each dealt with some specific aspect(s) of search stopping behavior and sought to identify the rules or factors affecting it. Research gaps we identified include not investigating the impact of variables such as search language, task difficulty, and individual differences on stopping behavior, the detailed differentiation of the signs of good abandonment from bad ones, and the use of eye tracking technology and recording electrical activity of the brain (Electroencephalography) to better understand the stopping behavior.