People often search for information to acquire procedural knowledge–“how to” knowledge about step-by-step procedures, methods, algorithms, techniques, heuristics, and skills. A procedural search task might involve implementing a solution to a problem, evaluating different approaches to a problem, and brainstorming on the types of problems that can be solved with a specific resource. We report on a study (N=36) that aimed to better understand how people search for procedural knowledge. Much research has investigated how search task characteristics impact people’s perceptions and behaviors. Along these lines, we manipulated procedural search tasks along two orthogonal dimensions: product and goal. The product dimension relates to the main outcome of the task and the goal dimension relates to task’s success criteria. We manipulated tasks across three product categories and two goal categories. The study investigated four research questions. First, we examined the effects of the product and goal on participants’ (RQ1) pre-task perceptions, (RQ2) post-task perceptions, and (RQ3) search behaviors. Second, regardless of the task product and goal, by analyzing participants’ think-aloud comments and screen activities we closely examined how people search for procedural knowledge. Specifically, we report on (RQ4) important relevance criteria, types of information sought, and challenges.

人们经常搜索信息来获取程序性知识——关于逐步程序、方法、算法、技术、启发式和技能的“如何”知识。程序搜索任务可能涉及实施问题的解决方案、评估解决问题的不同方法以及针对可以使用特定资源解决的问题类型进行集思广益。我们报告了一项研究（N = 36），旨在更好地了解人们如何搜索程序知识。许多研究调查了搜索任务特征如何影响人们的感知和行为。沿着这些思路，我们沿着两个正交维度操纵程序搜索任务：产品和目标。产品维度与任务的主要结果相关，目标维度与任务的成功标准相关。我们跨三个产品类别和两个目标类别操纵任务。该研究调查了四个研究问题。首先，我们检查了产品和目标对参与者（RQ1）任务前感知、（RQ2）任务后感知和（RQ3）搜索行为的影响。其次，无论任务产品和目标如何，通过分析参与者的有声思考评论和屏幕活动，我们仔细研究了人们如何搜索程序性知识。具体来说，我们报告 (RQ4) 重要的相关性标准、寻求的信息类型和挑战。