Effectors of Visual Search Efficacy on the Allegheny Plateau

Background Although lost-person search managers try to direct search efforts quantitatively, it has historically been difficult to quantify the efficacy of search efforts accurately. The effective-sweep-width (ESW) methodology represents an avenue for accomplishing this goal but has not yet been widely disseminated among practitioners. Methods We obtained ESW values in the summer and winter in a typical disturbed-forest environment in southwest Pennsylvania. We used nonparametric statistics to compare individual ESW values for two types of search objects detected by 18 summer and 20 winter searchers, cumulating the P values for similar comparisons and correcting for false discovery via a stepped method. Results We detected robust differences (all at P P P = .002). Apparently significant positive correlations between time spent on the course or field search experience and ESW disappeared when teens were excluded from the comparisons. Conclusions These results (the first comparison of seasonal ESW effects in identical terrain) represent the first statistical demonstration that the ESW methodology provides more than enough resolution to answer fundamental questions about the efficacy of visual search for lost persons by human searchers. They also add support to the imperative of operationally disseminating these methods among search-and-rescue practitioners, and offer some initial operational lessons for search managers.