How Do People Navigate Information Online?: A Comparative Study of Service Users and Service Providers

Background and Purpose: The capacity to navigate information online becomes increasingly critical for accessing services. The navigation process, however, causes burden on both service users and service providers when the information is complex and sporadic, which poses a significant barrier for effective service delivery. Social workers are often expected to be the navigator in the process of assisting clients and referring services. Despite the ongoing discussions about the potential use of technology in the social work practice, no research has attempted to understand the process of how people navigate service information online. To address this gap, this study examined the online information navigation process and its outcomes for both service users and service providers in relation to their demographic characteristics.

Methods: This study uses a unique dataset of 94 survey responses collected in Albany, New York, in 2018. Participants were given three scenarios to look for information online. The scenarios started from a simple to more complex ones. More specifically, participants needed to find answers for 1) whether there is a public library open on Sundays in a neighboring county, 2) whether they can find free meals every Tuesday with eligibility criteria, and 3) whether they can find three organizations that can help a low-income 19-year old woman who is sleeping on a friend’s couch and in need of housing resources. Participants had access to two technological devices, a smartphone and a laptop. Not the participants, but only the screens of those devices were video-recorded to save the participants’ search processes. Two groups of participants were targeted for recruitment, low-income and/or current human service users, and human service workers. Correlation analyses were used to examine the relationship between age, sex, education, income, and the navigation process (i.e., methods used, search duration, a number of websites used, search phrases used) and its outcomes (i.e., a number of accurate outcomes).

Results: Service users and service providers did not differ significantly on how long each search took. For all three scenarios, service providers were more likely to use specific terms or phrases when searching for information online compared to service users. However, for two of the more complex scenarios, service providers than service users were more likely to visit more websites and to find accurate information. For both groups, educational attainment was the most prominent variable associated with the accurate search outcomes.

Conclusions and Implications: This study suggests that academic and technological literacy plays a significant role for accessing service information online. Our future conceptualization of “online service navigation” needs to consider not only how promptly people can find relevant information but also whether that information can readily guide people to use the services and meet their needs. For practice, we encourage service providers to develop skills training and better communication tools (e.g., easy-to-use web designs, centralized resource guide, personalized mobile apps) that will improve clients’ service navigation processes and outcomes.