Strategy and accuracy during information search on the Web: Effects of age and complexity of the search questions

• This study focused on the impact of question complexity and age on information search activity.
• 10 older and 10 younger adults had to answer questions in using a search engine.
• Younger adults gave more correct answers than older ones for complex questions.
• Older adults developed fewer efficiency strategies than younger adults.
• Age-related differences were particularly pronounced for complex questions.

The present study addressed age-related differences in performance and strategies while searching for information on the Web while considering specific processes involved in the search activity on the Internet. To this end, 10 older and 10 younger adults were instructed to use Google to find information. The search questions varied and increased in complexity: three simple questions (participants had to use the keywords provided in the questions), three difficult questions (participants had to infer new keywords to find correct answers), and three impossible questions (no answer existed). The results showed that older participants were less accurate and used fewer efficient strategies compared to younger participants. The differences increased as a function of question complexity. Moreover, older participants tended to focus on the evaluation of the results provided by Google at the expense of opening up and examining websites. In contrast, younger participants controlled their own activities more often, thus allowing them to improve their strategies and obtain higher performances, contrary to older participants who used the same strategies regardless the complexity of the search question.