The impact of task phrasing on the choice of search keywords and on the search process and success (original) (raw)
Related papers
Form and function: The impact of query term and operator usage on Web search results
Journal of The American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2002
Conventional wisdom holds that queries to information retrieval systems will yield more relevant results if they contain multiple topic-related terms and use Boolean and phrase operators to enhance interpretation. Although studies have shown that the users of Web-based search engines typically enter short, term-based queries and rarely use search operators, little information exists concerning the effects of term and operator usage on the relevancy of search results. In this study, search engine users formulated queries on eight search topics. Each query was submitted to the user-specified search engine, and relevancy ratings for the retrieved pages were assigned. Expert-formulated queries were also submitted and provided a basis for comparing relevancy ratings across search engines. Data analysis based on our research model of the term and operator factors affecting relevancy was then conducted. The results show that the difference in the number of terms between expert and nonexpert searches, the percentage of matching terms between those searches, and the erroneous use of nonsupported operators in nonexpert searches explain most of the variation in the relevancy of search results. These findings highlight the need for designing search engine interfaces that provide greater support in the areas of term selection and operator usage.
Web searching: A process-oriented experimental study of three interactive search paradigms
Journal of The American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2002
This article compares search effectiveness when using query-based Internet search (via the Google search engine), directory-based search (via Yahoo), and phrasebased query reformulation-assisted search (via the Hyperindex browser) by means of a controlled, user-based experimental study. The focus was to evaluate aspects of the search process. Cognitive load was measured using a secondary digit-monitoring task to quantify the effort of the user in various search states; independent relevance judgements were employed to gauge the quality of the documents accessed during the search process and time was monitored as a function of search state. Results indicated directory-based search does not offer increased relevance over the query-based search (with or without query formulation assistance), and also takes longer. Query reformulation does significantly improve the relevance of the documents through which the user must trawl, particularly when the formulation of query terms is more difficult. However, the improvement in document relevance comes at the cost of increased search time, although this difference is quite small when the search is self-terminated. In addition, the advantage of the query reformulation seems to occur as a consequence of providing more discriminating terms rather than by increasing the length of queries.
Characterizing Queries in Different Search Tasks
The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of queries of varied search tasks driven by different user intents. For this, the study collected empirical and descriptive evidence of twenty-nine subjects’ information searching process on the Web. Several indicators have been employed to determine different characteristics of queries. The results indicate that there were statistical differences in query iteration, identical query, failed query, clickthrough query rate among different search tasks with different search intent. The results also indicate different search tasks result in different query interval lengths.
The Retrieval Effectiveness of Web Search Engines: Considering Results Descriptions
Purpose: To compare five major Web search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask.com, and Seekport) for their retrieval effectiveness, taking into account not only the results but also the results descriptions. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses real-life queries. Results are made anonymous and are randomised. Results are judged by the persons posing the original queries. Findings: The two major search engines, Google and Yahoo, perform best, and there are no significant differences between them. Google delivers significantly more relevant result descriptions than any other search engine. This could be one reason for users perceiving this engine as superior. Research Limitations: The study is based on a user model where the user takes into account a certain amount of results rather systematically. This may not be the case in real life. Practical Implications: Implies that search engines should focus on relevant descriptions. Searchers are advised to use other search engines in addition to Google. Originality/Value: This is the first major study comparing results and descriptions systematically and proposes new retrieval measures to take into account results descriptions.
Relationship between the nature of the search task types and query reformulation behaviour
In the ADCS’ 12 17th Australasian Document Computing Symposium, 2012
Success of query reformulation and relevant information retrieval depends on many factors, such as users' prior knowledge, age, gender, and cognitive styles. One of the important factors that affect a user's query reformulation behaviour is that of the nature of the search tasks. Limited studies have examined the impact of the search task types on query reformulation behaviour while performing Web searches. This paper examines how the nature of the search tasks affects users' query reformulation behaviour during information searching. The paper reports empirical results from a user study in which 50 participants performed a set of three Web search tasks -exploratory, factorial and abstract. Users' interactions with search engines were logged by using a monitoring program. 872 unique search queries were classified into five query types -New, Add, Remove, Replace and Repeat. Users submitted fewer queries for the factual task, which accounted for 26%. They completed a higher number of queries (40% of the total queries) while carrying out the exploratory task. A one-way MANOVA test indicated a significant effect of search task types on users' query reformulation behaviour. In particular, the search task types influenced the manner in which users reformulated the New and Repeat queries.
Query generation and search behaviour of German users. [0082]
The research as described in this document, was done by the first author as noted below. He was a student at the Munich University of Applied Sciences (MUAS) in 2014-the topic was given as a student project. It has not been peer reviewed, but has been edited for basic grammar and accuracy. References have been standardized as far as possible according to the Harvard system. Consider this document as a working paper, to be used for basic referencing but not as seminal source for research work. It could be useful for research in the fields of Website Visibility, Information Retrieval and Search Engines. ABSTRACT Search engines especially Google cover more and more influence about how information is found all over the Internet. Some studies investigated the searching of Web users by analysing huge search logs of search engines. Others studied smaller educated groups. This working paper investigates a small group of people of average skill at various age which represent the everyday people. It analyses their query generation and behaviour while searching. Participants searched for 10 issues logging all queries, search engines, website visits and auto-completion that have been used. Results show that 100% use Google. 26% of the queries were generated using auto-completion and 1.83 websites were viewed in average per search. Slightly differences between genders were monitored. Google knows how people search and Web users trust in Google is very high. This is both good and bad.
Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2007
Task has been recognized as an influential factor in information seeking behavior. An increasing number of studies are concentrating on the specific characteristics of the task as independent variables to explain associated information‐seeking activities. This paper examines the relationships between operational measures of information search behavior, subjectively perceived post‐task difficulty and objective task complexity in the context of factual information‐seeking tasks on the web. A question‐driven, web‐based information‐finding study was conducted in a controlled experimental setting. The study participants performed nine search tasks of varying complexity. Subjective task difficulty was found to be correlated with many measures that characterize the searcher's activities. Four of those measures, the number of the unique web pages visited, the time spent on each page, the degree of deviation from the optimal path and the degree of the navigation path's linearity, wer...
Web search strategies: The influence of Web experience and task type
Information Processing and Management, 2008
Despite a number of studies looking at Web experience and Web searching tactics and behaviours, the specific relationships between experience and cognitive search strategies have not been widely researched. This study investigates how the cognitive search strategies of 80 participants might vary with Web experience as they engaged in two researcher-defined tasks and two participant-defined information seeking tasks. Each of the two researcher-defined tasks and participant-defined tasks included a directed search task and a general-purpose browsing task. While there were almost no significant performance differences between experience levels on any of the four tasks, there were significant differences in the use of cognitive search strategies. Participants with higher levels of Web experience were more likely to use “Parallel player”, “Parallel hub-and-spoke”, “Known address search domain” and “Known address” strategies, whereas participants with lower levels of Web experience were more likely to use “Virtual tourist”, “Link-dependent”, “To-the-point”, “Sequential player”, “Search engine narrowing”, and “Broad first” strategies. The patterns of use and differences between researcher-defined and participant-defined tasks and between directed search tasks and general-purpose browsing tasks are also discussed, although the distribution of search strategies by Web experience were not statistically significant for each individual task.
A Review of User Search Behaviour and Search Success
World Wide Web (WWW) is a pool of knowledge where it contains millions of interlinked hypertext documents and can be accessed via the Internet. Most of the information on the web is free, up-to-date and they are not bound to any geography or political regions. Due to these characteristics, WWW has become an interesting medium for information sharing and publishing. To date, millions of articles, documents, web pages, and images have been made available on the WWW. These abundance of information cause information overload phenomena and expert believe that year 2008 will facing this phenomena very badly. This paper review the impact of information overload to the information searching. This paper also review the user search behavior and search satisfaction on the result return by the search system.