Old and new user study methods combined – linking web questionnaires with log files from the Swedish Lexin Dictionary

By November 17, 2016,
Page 922-928
Author Ann-Kristin Hult
Title Old and new user study methods combined – linking web questionnaires with log files from the Swedish Lexin Dictionary
Abstract The Swedish Lexin Dictionary, SLD, is an online Swedish monolingual learner’s dictionary for immigrants at beginner’s level (http://lexin.nada.kth.se/lexin/). The dictionary has a well-defined target group and an explicit purpose. Thus the intended use is very clear. Also worth noting is that the dictionary is frequently used. For these reasons, it is most interesting to examine the actual use of this dictionary. The SLD has recently been revised and the online search functions have been improved. The initial part of the paper briefly describes the SLD and the updating project. The main part of the paper reports on an ongoing study of the use and users of the SLD. The study has combined two methods: web questionnaire survey and log file analysis. Thanks to the linking between the questionnaire data and the log file data, issues concerning, for example, whether users really do what they say they do can be verified with greater certainty. The paper demonstrates an example of analysis, where the questionnaire answers of one user are compared with the same user´s actual searches in the SLD. This analysis is but one example of many hundred possible analyses. Apart from the results of the user study, it will also be of great interest to evaluate the procedure of combining two methods within the same study in this way, as the combination has a chance to yield more reliable and valid results on dictionary users and user behaviour.
Session Posters
Keywords dictionary use, web questionnaire survey, log file analysis.
BibTex
@InProceedings{ELX12-092,
author = {Ann-Kristin Hult},
title = {Old and new user study methods combined - linking web questionnaires with log files from the Swedish Lexin Dictionary},
pages = {922--928},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 15th EURALEX International Congress},
year = {2012},
month = {aug},
date = {7-11},
address = {Oslo,Norway},
editor = {Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld and Julie Matilde Torjusen},
publisher = {Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo},
isbn = {978-82-303-2228-4},
}
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