The impact of time constraint on information search strategies in complex choice tasks

The impact of time constraint on information search strategies was investigated for complex choice tasks. Data were gathered by means of a 6 x 6 information display board. It was expected that participants would adapt to a time constraint by means of acceleration and selection, and not by alteration of search pattern. No signs of acceleration were found, but for the rest the hypothesis was supported. Results also support Beach's image theory of screening (Beach, 1993). With time constraint, the screening was based on fewer attributes, and resulted in fewer alternatives in the final choice set, than without time constraint. As expected, this increased selectivity appeared to have,occurred mostly at the expense of the moderately important attributes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.