A HyperCard program to track information-search strategies

In many decision-making studies, subjects are given a body of material to review and then their search strategies are assessed. Research paradigms in such studies exhibit varying degrees of artificiality and obtrusiveness, and data collection is often cumbersome. The present paper describes a Macintosh application using the Hyper-Card program that tracks subjects’ search strategies in a less obtrusive and artificial manner than those used in previous studies. The program records the order in which the material is reviewed as well as the duration of subjects’ access to each part of the material. Data collection is also greatly simplified by the program. An experiment using the program is described and suggestions for other uses of the program are discussed.