A Preliminary Usability Evaluation of Strategies for Seeking Online Information with Elderly People
Sergio Sayago, Josep Blat · 2007 · Proceedings of the 2007 International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A) · doi:10.1145/1243441.1243457
Summary
This short paper from Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona presents an experimental study comparing how seven elderly participants (ages 65-74) performed using three strategies for finding complex information online: Google basic search, Google advanced search, and the Yahoo! Directory. The study was grounded in ethnographic research at La Verneda, an adult education school in Barcelona where participants had been using Google basic search daily for over two years but had never used advanced search or directory browsing. The authors identified three general usability criteria particularly relevant to elderly users: the need for simplicity (reduced interface complexity), difficulties using the mouse (due to age-related changes in spatial abilities and manual dexterity, including conditions like arthritis), and cautious clicking and reading behavior (elderly users tend to read all information on screen carefully before acting, partly due to lack of confidence and fear of breaking things or deleting important information). Participants performed two realistic tasks — finding cinema release dates for a film and locating synopses of classical literary works — using all three strategies in a counterbalanced within-subjects design. A one-hour self-paced training session preceded the test, and a focus group was conducted afterward to gather qualitative insights.
Key findings
The type of search strategy had a statistically significant impact on total search time (F(2,12)=11.097, p<0.005). Older participants were approximately 3 times faster using Google basic search (mean: 134 seconds) compared to both the Yahoo! Directory (mean: 399 seconds) and Google advanced search (mean: 171 seconds). All within-subjects contrasts were significant. Crucially, the differences were not explained by query effectiveness or false page visits — participants wrote similar numbers of queries and visited similar numbers of false pages across all three conditions. Instead, information overload was the dominant factor, as confirmed by both quantitative results and focus group feedback. All participants identified directory and advanced search interfaces as overly complex because they displayed too much information, forcing detailed reading before any action. Six of seven participants specifically noted that the directory was slowest due to the precision required for mouse clicking on category links. The advanced search interface, while producing fewer but more precise results, was slower than basic search because participants had to read and understand multiple form fields. Basic search was unanimously regarded as the simplest interface. The authors also noted from their ethnographic work that older people frequently misspell keywords due to lower education levels and conditions like arthritis, yet search engines' "did you mean" features partially compensate for this.
Relevance
This study provides concrete evidence that interface simplicity is the single most important usability factor for older adults seeking information online — more important than result precision or advanced filtering capabilities. The finding that elderly users were 3x faster with a simple search box than with theoretically more powerful tools challenges the assumption that more features equals better usability. For web designers and accessibility practitioners, this reinforces several practical guidelines: minimize interface elements, reduce required mouse precision (large click targets, less reliance on hierarchical navigation), and avoid information overload by presenting fewer choices at once. The observation that older adults read everything on screen before acting has direct implications for page design — cluttered interfaces impose a disproportionate cognitive burden on cautious users. While the sample size is small (7 participants) and the study is preliminary, its findings align with broader aging research and remain relevant as populations age globally. The social dimension is also notable: the authors found that negative family attitudes ("you'll break it") discouraged older adults from using technology, highlighting that accessibility barriers extend beyond interface design into social and attitudinal factors.
Tags: aging · usability · information seeking · search engines · mouse difficulties · cognitive accessibility · older adults