The paper investigates the issue of the optimal number of alternatives that should be placed on database menu pages. A previous search-time model (Lee and MacGregor, 1985) is extended by proposing a criterion-based decision model, which makes predictions about how the number of alternatives affects the search process and the pattern of errors that will result. An experimental test of the model largely supported the predictions and indicated that with naive users the optimal number of alternatives per page is four to five. These values resulted in the shortest search times, the highest success rates, and the highest preference rankings.
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