The Usefulness of Search Results: A Systematization of Types and Predictors

In evaluating search systems there is a growing trend to complement the established effectiveness indicator topical relevance by the usefulness of search results. Usefulness refers to the contribution of search results to a larger task generating information search. This study analyses articles on interactive information retrieval which either predict the usefulness of documents retrieved or evaluate search systems by the usefulness of search results. The aim is to systematize the findings of these studies by categorizing the types of usefulness and their predictor types. Significant empirical associations between predictor types and usefulness are systematized, too. The data consists of articles in journals or conference proceedings focusing on the usefulness of search results either in web or database environment. The results indicate that there is a growing trend to complement topical relevance by the usefulness of search results in evaluating search systems. Search tasks typically instruct participants to search information for a writing task. Perceived usefulness of search results is the established measure in studies, although there are alternative measures in use. Significant associations between predictors and usefulness do not accumulate much but vary notably. Growth of knowledge on the usefulness of search results is based on the increasing number and variety of proposition supported empirically.