The long-term effects of integral versus composite metaphors on experts’ and novices’ search behaviors

For years, metaphors have been used extensively to facilitate multiple user tasks on Web sites. Nonetheless, research examining metaphor’s effects in facilitating user tasks, not to mention the proposal of the design methodology, is limited. There is disagreement about using single or multiple metaphors in designing computer systems. Regarding metaphor’s long-term effects, Carroll and Thomas [Carroll, J.M., Thomas, C.J., 1982. Metaphor and the cognitive representation of computing systems. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, SMC 12, 107–116] claim that metaphors lose utility once users are familiar with the system. Furthermore, little evidence exists about metaphor’s effects on users with differing computer experience.This researcher proposes a metaphor design methodology to examine the long-term effects of integral (single) versus composite (mixed) metaphors on subjects’ information search behaviors and their effects on Internet novices and experts. Ninety-eight college students participated in this study. The findings suggest that metaphor’s effects decrease over time as users become more experienced. Moreover, composite metaphors facilitate experts’ searching better than novices’.