Towards understanding consumers' quality evaluation of online health information: A case study

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe present a case study of quality evaluation of online health information. Two participants were selected from a health information search (HIS) study, in which we are investigating consumers' evaluation of the quality of online health information. The selected cases offered a rare example of two almost exactly opposite eye‐movement patterns on the same webpage. To better understand the differences in these patterns, we investigated participants' cognitive evaluation processes by examining their textual explanations collected in post‐task questionnaires and verbal explanations collected in the retrospective think‐aloud (RTA) sessions. We discuss how eHealth literacy and personality scores may be related to the behavioral differences. The findings of this case study inform the formulation of hypotheses for full data analysis of the HIS study, as well as future research addressing behavior patterns and factors affecting consumers' quality evaluation of online health information.