電子報使用者遊歷行為之描繪—以交大學生為例

Abstract

本研究主要在探討電子報使用者的遊歷行為，以實驗室情境蒐集國立交通大學149位學生瀏覽「實驗電子報」的網站記錄檔案（log files），藉由遊歷指標分析電子報讀者的外在遊歷行為，並以問卷調查方式獲得電子報讀者的內在態度意向。本研究運用集群分析，將電子報使用者區隔出「知識尋求者」、「隨性漫遊者」與「特徵探索者」等三種遊歷行為模式。 在外在遊歷指標上，本研究發現「遊歷總時數」、「遊歷節點總個數」、「主題移動次數」、「主題索引使用次數」、「跳頁程度」、「線性遊歷程度」、「遊歷平均深度」與「圖片點選次數」是區隔電子報讀者遊歷行為模式最具鑑別力的八項遊歷指標。「知識尋求者」的「遊歷總時數」最長、「遊歷節點總個數」最多、「線性遊歷程度」最高、「遊歷平均深度」最深、「跳頁程度」最低；「隨性漫遊者」的「遊歷總時數」最短、「遊歷節點總個數」最少、「線性遊歷程度」最低、「遊歷平均深度」最淺、「跳頁程度」最高；「特徵探索者」則是「主題索引使用次數」最高、「圖片點選次數」最多。 在內在心理變項上，本研究發現不同遊歷行為模式的讀者間亦存在顯著差異。就電子報的使用動機而言，「知識尋求者」的「資訊尋求」動機顯著高於「隨性漫遊者」；在電子報的使用行為上，「知識尋求者」的「目的導向」行為要明顯高於「特徵探索者」；在閱讀電子報的滿意度上，「知識尋求者」的「需求滿足」程度明顯高於「隨性漫遊者」與「特徵探索者」。 整體而言，「知識尋求者」目的導向行為明顯，資訊尋求為主要閱讀動機，因此電子報必須加強主題類別的規劃、提升檢索功能，以方便讀者快速找到所要的資訊；「隨性漫遊者」的隨性漫遊特徵明顯，遊歷時間短且跳頁程度高，因此電子報在內容設計上必須能吸引讀者目光，以簡單的網站架構設計、明顯的新聞鏈結，讓使用者快速瀏覽內容；「特徵探索者」對網站功能特徵較感興趣，因此電子報應加強網站架構的規劃與功能設計，提供互動機制滿足讀者特徵探索需求。

Online newspapers are unlike traditional printed news not only because they represent a web-based medium, but also because their readers can process the hypertextual structure in a nonlinear, random-access manner. The purpose of this study is to inspect navigation profiles of online newspaper readers. Cluster analysis was used to generate online newspaper readers’ navigation patterns based on the data collected from 149 voluntary students in National Chiao Tung University. Data on participants’ navigation patterns were captured in computer log files and their self-reported affective data were collected by paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Analyses of these data revealed three different types of participants’ navigation patterns: knowledge seekers, disenchanted users, and feature explorers. “Knowledge seekers” are the earnest readers. They are object-oriented, spent more time on online newspaper than the other two groups. This group browsed the largest number of nodes, had the highest linearity and level of depth, and seldom skip over nodes. “Disenchanted users” are impatient readers. They had the least number of browsing nodes and level of depth, and spent the least amount of time on navigating online newspaper. This group also had the highest skip-over rate and nonlinearity degree. “Feature explorers” are feature-oriented readers. They had the modest performance in the amount of time spending on the online newspaper and the number of nodes browsing in news itself. This group also made the most image choices and index-screen searches. Several suggestions are made for the designers of online newspapers based on the results of this study. 1. A key word search capability would be useful for knowledge seekers who are looking for a specific piece of information. 2. An eye-catching headline and explicit links of news would be helpful for attracting disenchanted users. 3. Interactive functions and a well-organized structure would be beneficial for feature explorers to surf online newspapers.