Searcher's perceptions for query reformulation behavior on the web

• Published in: American Society for Information Science and Technology. Meeting. Proceedings of the ... ASIST Annual Meeting Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 1 - 4
• Main Authors: Na, Kyoungsik, Park, Min Sook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 2012; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Confidence; Information retrieval; Meetings; Perception; Query processing; Search engines; Searching; Systems developers; Tasks
• ISSN: 0044-7870; 1550-8390; 1550-8390
• DOI: 10.1002/meet.14504901333

With the aim of better understanding for query reformulation behavior in Information Retrieval (IR), this study is to investigate searcher's perceptions for query reformulation behavior in information search process on the Web using Google search engine as a tested in exploring what factors might affect searcher's query reformulation behavior. The study employed two survey questionnaires and a search task. Twenty seven subjects were recruited to participate in this study. Based on the findings, precision and relevance seem to be two key factors for subjects to reformulate previous queries as well as to compare between search results. Interestingly, search satisfaction and confidence might be other factors for subjects when considering query reformulations. Query reformulations might have not only broadened the search depending upon the quality of query reformulations, but may also have provided opportunities to learn and come up with new ideas. The findings of this study expect to promote understanding of searcher's query reformulation behavior in order to be of better assistance to both searchers and system developers.