Mix and match: combining terms and operators for successful Web searches

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摘要

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the structure and components of queries written by experimental participants in a study that manipulated two factors found to affect end-user information retrieval performance: training in Boolean logic and the type of search interface. As reported previously, we found that both Boolean training and the use of an assisted interface improved the participants' ability to find correct responses to information requests. Here, we examine the impact of these training and interface manipulations on the Boolean operators and search terms that comprise the submitted queries. Our analysis shows that both Boolean training and the use of an assisted interface improved the participants' ability to correctly utilize various operators. An unexpected finding is that this training also had a positive impact on term selection. The terms and, to a lesser extent, the operators comprising a query were important factors affecting the participants' performance in query tasks. Our findings demonstrate that even small training interventions can improve the users' search performance and highlight the need for additional information retrieval research into how search interfaces can provide superior support to today's untrained users of the Web.

论文关键词:Search interface,Boolean logic training,Assisted search,Boolean operators,Search terms

论文评审过程:Received 29 August 2003, Accepted 30 March 2004, Available online 7 June 2004.

论文官网地址:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ipm.2004.03.007