Why structural hints in queries do not help XML-retrieval

For many years it has been commonly held that a user who adds structural “hints” to a query will improve precision in an element retrieval search. At INEX 2005 we conducted an experiment to test this assumption. We present the unexpected result that structural hints in queries do not improve precision. An analysis of the topics and the judgments suggests that this is because users are particularly bad at giving structural hints. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval – query formulation, Search process. General Terms Measurement, Performance, Experimentation. Keywords Element retrieval, XML retrieval, INEX.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: SIGIR
• Authors: Andrew Trotman, Mounia Lalmas
• Keywords: Element Retrieval, Element Retrieval Search, SIGIR 2006, Structural Hints