BIB-VERSION:: CS-TR-v2.0
ID:: UMCP-CSD//CS-TR-2398
ENTRY:: October 15, 1998
TITLE:: The effect of method of instruction and spatial visualization ability on the
subsequent navigation of a hierarchical database 
AUTHOR:: Butler, Scott A.
DATE:: June 1990 
ABSTRACT:: 

Users need instructions about the structure of a data base and about
what commands are available for use in menu traversal.  Early research has
shown that subjects who received tree diagrams of a data base were most
successful in searching a hierarchical data base.  Later research demonstrated
that subjects who studied information presented in the form of an analogy
performed better than did subjects who studied a tree diagram.  Considering
work by Vicente, Hayes and Williges, the present experiment attempted to show
that spatial visualization ability can be used to determine what form of
instruction results in a difference in performance very early in the use of a
data base.  Subjects were grouped according to their spatial visualization
ability and were randomly assigned to one of four study conditions.  Subjects
studied either a tree diagram of the data base of college courses, an analogy
describing the structure of the data base, both the analogy and the tree
diagram, or nothing about the data base.  Results replicated the finding that
studying a tree diagram results in the best performance among the four methods
of study.  Furthermore, high spatial visualization subjects made fewer moves
and took less time to find targets than did low spatial visualization subjects.
However, results provided no support for accelerated learning when subjects were provided with materials that complemented their spatial visualization
ability.
(Also cross-referenced as CAR-TR-488) 
END:: UMCP-CSD//CS-TR-2398