The measurement of navigational paths in a hypertext environment

As advocated by Jonassen (1988), one technique for addressing the human computer interaction present in hypertext applications involves analysis of the paths followed by the users of the hypertext. Because hypertext allows the user to choose, within parameters set by the hypertext author, not only the elements that will be covered, but also the order in which they are addressed, measurement and examination of the actual paths followed by users can provide valuable insight to hypertext designers, researchers, and educators. This paper addresses two key objectives. The first objective of this paper is to extend the work of Beasley and Vila (1992). In their study, Beasley and Vila found a statistically significant difference in male and female hypertext users in terms of the degree of linearity and non-linearity of their search paths. Given freedom of choice of topics, Beasley and Vila found that the female students chose to pursue a more linear path through the topical matter than did the male subjects. This paper adds to Beasley and Vila´s work by investigating variations in the type and quantity of network information utilized by gender. We hypothesize that gender differences will occur in both the type and quantity of information examined by users. The second objective of this research is to provide descriptive statistics pertaining to the utilization of information contained in the hypertext network