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User motivation and expectation for asking a question in online q&a services
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
User motivation and expectation for asking a question in online q&a services
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Choi
NamePart
(type = given)
Erik
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(type = date)
1979-
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Erik Choi
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(authority = RULIB)
author
Name
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(type = family)
Shah
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Chirag
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Chirag Shah
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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Belkin
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Nicholas
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Nicholas Belkin
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Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Radford
NamePart
(type = given)
Marie
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Marie Radford
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Teevan
NamePart
(type = given)
Jaime
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Jaime Teevan
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name
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NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
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NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2014
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2014-10
CopyrightDate
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2014
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2b);
(type = code)
eng
Abstract
(type = abstract)
Online Q&A services are online information sources where people identify their information need, formulate the need in natural language, and interact with one another to receive answers to satisfy their needs. Even though in recent years online Q&A has grown considerably in popularity and impacted people’s information-seeking behaviors, we still have little understanding of what motivates people to ask a question and what they expect from others with respect to their answers to judge information quality in the online Q&A environments. The purpose of the dissertation is to understand the motivations and expectations behind questions asking of unknown people in online Q&A services. Therefore, Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers were selected as the test beds in the study because these online Q&A services allow people to interact with most likely unknown people via the question-answering processes, yet provide different features of how answers are given to a question. Three research questions are addressed: (1) motivation: what motivates people to ask a question that address their needs in Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers?; (2) Expectation: what are an asker’s expectations from other users to fulfill his or her needs when asking questions in Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers?; (3) relationship: how do motivations of asking a question relate to expectations of answer content in Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers?; and (4) comparison: To what extent are motivations, expectations, and the relationship between motivations and expectations different and/or similar between Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers? Cognitive needs such as finding factual information or seeking others’ opinion or advice were found as the most significant motivational factor that drives people to ask a question. Yet, it was found that other motivational factors (e.g., tension free needs) also played an important role in user motivations for asking a question, depending on peoples’ unique and contextual situations. It was found that when asking a question in online Q&A services, three main expectations were common: (1) looking for quick responses; (2) looking for additional or alternative information; and (3) looking for accurate or complete information. Additionally, dynamic relationships between different motivations and expectations for asking a question to seek contextual information to satisfy their unique situation are presented. The study also identified that there were incidents in which people have more than one motivation and/or expectation for asking a question. Understanding user motivations and expectations could provide a general framework of conceptualizing different contexts and situations of information needs that drive people into human-to-human interactions for seeking information within an online Q&A context. The findings from the dissertation have several implications not only to develop better question-answering processes in online Q&A environments, but also to contribute to gain insights into understanding of online information seeking behaviors.
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Information retrieval
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Information behavior
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_5914
PhysicalDescription
Form
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electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 271 p. : ill.)
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Erik Choi
RelatedItem
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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rucore19991600001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3DB809B
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Choi
GivenName
Erik
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
(encoding = w3cdtf);
(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2014-09-25 22:09:59
AssociatedEntity
Name
Seung Won Choi
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
RULTechMD
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ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem
(VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
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