Investigating the Relationship between eHealth Literacy and Information Search Behaviors

The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between information search behaviors and eHealth literacy. eHealth literacy is mostly measured by assessing consumer's perceived eHealth literacy skills. Nevertheless, there is a lack of study investigating the relationship between eHealth literacy and consumers' information search skills. Thus, I am proposing to conduct a lab-based study to bridge this research gap. Participants will be asked to conduct six fact-finding search tasks. Three informant search behaviors (query formulation, information evaluation, information extraction) are identified and will be measured based on Marchionini's information seeking process model. eHealth literacy will be measured by combining participants' perceived eHealth literacy and information search skills. The relationship between information search behaviors and eHealth literacy will be analyzed.