The loquacious user: a document-independent source of terms for query expansion

In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of a documentindependent technique for eliciting feedback from users about their information problems. We propose that such a technique can be used to elicit terms from users for use in query expansion and as a follow-up when ambiguous queries are initially posed by users. We design a feedback form to obtain additional information from users, administer the form to users after initial querying, and create a series of experimental runs based on the information that we obtained from the form. Results demonstrate that the form was successful at eliciting more information from users and that this additional information significantly improved retrieval performance. Our results further demonstrate a strong relationship between query length and performance. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.3 [Information Storage and Retrieval]: Information Search and Retrieval - relevance feedback, query formulation. General Terms Performance, Experimentat...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: SIGIR
• Authors: Diane Kelly, Vijay Deepak Dollu, Xin Fu
• Keywords: Information, Query Expansion, Query Length, SIGIR 2005