Search tactics for medical image retrieval

Few studies have explored image search behavior in the medical field. This study investigated the effect of domain knowledge on the uses of search tactics during image search process by radiologic technologists. We found that in the field of Radiography, experts and novices demonstrated significant differences in employing five search tactics: Browse, Enlarge, Examine Enlarged Images, Refine, and Exhaust. Experts showed strong capabilities when using image content information to make their relevance judgments, while novices relied more on textual information (e.g., captions) to select relevant images. We also found that experts used exhaustive query terms to initiate a search and browsed several screens of results to locate well-matched images or generate new ideas for further search moves. On the contrary, novices usually started their search with a simpler concept and only browsed the results on the first few screens.