本研究探討終端使用的錯誤行為。這些終端使用者使用線上檢索的動機是為了解 答自己的研究問題。本研究的終端使用者共有44位，其中包含40位學生和4位教職員。他們 在接受30分鐘的錄影帶訓練課程或課堂教學後，總共做了79次檢索。透過仔細閱讀和分析 檢索策略與結果，總計找出119種錯誤原因，這些錯誤原因分佈相當分散。至於錯誤發生的 位置，絕大多數都發生在「建立與發展檢索組」及「顯示列印」這兩種功能、指令和要素 上。比較特殊的發展是錯誤次數並未隨時間和經驗的成長而減少,但和語法有關的錯誤行為 則會隨經驗的增加而減少。

　　　　　This article uses an information processing approach to analyze the behavior of end-users in searching online bibliographic databases, emphiasizing their errors committed. The end-us-ers are 41 students and 3 faculties. After being instructed in online searching, subjects searched through the semester, doing 79 searches. Through analyzing search transcripts, this study identified 119 reasons for errors. In this study, errors occurred most frequently in connection with functions, moves, and elements of "create and develop sets" and "display and print records". Surprisingly, the resultsdo not indicate that end-ysers commit errors less frequently as they gain more experience and practice. The only hypothesis supported is syntax-related errors do decrease over time.