IRList Digest Wednesday, 24 June 1987 Volume 3 : Issue 15 Today's Topics: Abstracts - IR-Related Dissertation Abstracts (part 2 of 2) News addresses are ARPANET: fox@vtopus.cs.vt.edu BITNET: foxea@vtvax3.bitnet CSNET: fox@vt UUCPNET: seismo!vtisr1!irlistrq ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Jun 87 19:11:08 EDT From: Susanne Humphrey Subject: dissertation abstracts for SIGIR Forum [Note: This is rest of msg, first part of which was in Issue 14 - Ed] AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG86-25849. AU SCHWARTZ, CAROLYN SUSAN (CANDY). SO DAI v47(08), SecA, pp2778. IN Syracuse University Ph.D. 1986, 144 pages. TI A study of the application of post-retrieval clustering in bibliographic databases. DE Information Science. AB The items retrieved as the result of a search in a large bibliographic database are not typically organized such that relevant references are presented before non-relevant references. In this study, post-retrieval clustering is proposed as an effective method of presenting retrieved results. A clustering algorithm was applied to 48 retrieved sets in two different databases, INSPEC and PSYCINFO. Coefficients of ranking effectiveness (CRE's) were calculated for results presented in reverse accession number order (the default mode in commercially available search systems) and in an order derived from the clustering. A two-alternative t-test was used to evaluate whether the difference between mean CRE's was significant. In all cases, the difference was found to be statistically significant. The conclusion is made that post-retrieval clustering offers an improved method of presentation of retrieved results. Other advantages of clustered results are also discussed. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG86-19997. AU SODERSTON, CANDACE. SO DAI v47(06), SecA, pp1912. IN Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ph.D. 1986, 285 pages. TI A study of spatial models and human navigation within complex computer interfaces. DE Information Science. Education, Technology. AB This study examines the process of building a conceptual model of the layout of information within a computer system. The contentions are that this draws primarily upon spatial skills, that some underlying structural patterns are easier to perceive, and that some methods of introduction lead to more rapid learning. An experiment was performed in which eighty people (with five different types of background) had to search for sixteen pieces of information within each of two computer interfaces. Four interface designs were tested, varying on underlying structure and access method. Each contained the same content and covered two different knowledge domains. Two of the designs linked information together in a hierarchical structure, which users could browse by making branching choices at each display screen. The other two designs linked the same information together in a linear chain, which users could browse by simply scrolling forward or backward. Furthermore, one of the hierarchical and one of the linear structures provided subjects with survey access to the structure of the interface. That is, users began each session task at an on-line table of contents, depicting the entire spectrum of available choices. The other hierarchical and linear structure provided only route access (traversing the "maze"). Exploration, retrieval, and error recovery tasks were examined and data were collected on subjects' performance, preference, and cognitive model. In brief, hierarchical structures were identified correctly by all subjects and were performed by route subjects. Subjects were not able to identify the linear structures correctly and were not able to build accurate cognitive maps of the location of parts within the whole. Survey subjects preferred the second system they used, regardless of its underlying structure. They were also faster at the tasks, but route subjects built more accurate cognitive maps of the structural layout. It is concluded that systems should provide survey access to all function, however, learning aids should include an emphasis upon building up route knowledge of the system. Furthermore, on-line information should be structured hierarchically. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG86-27852. AU VIDAL-ARBONA, CARLOS. SO DAI v47(08), SecA, pp2778. IN Case Western Reserve University Ph.D. 1986, 167 pages. TI Comparing the retrieval effectiveness of free-text and citation search strategies in the subject of technology planning. DE Information Science. AB This comparative study addresses the retrieval effectiveness of two methods of online searching: subject term and citation searching. Both methods were used to search the subject of Technology Planning in a collection of articles published by 223 journals. The objective of the experiment was to determine: (1) how much overlap existed between the articles retrieved by each of the methods; (2) under what circumstances each method yielded more relevant articles; (3) if a method which consistently retrieves a high percentage of relevant articles can be developed. Searches were conducted for eight questions on the Dialog Information Service against two data bases: (1) ABI/INFORM--a management literature file containing bibliographic citations and article summaries; (2) Social SciSEARCH--a citation index to the literature of the Social Sciences. Each of the questions was searched twice: one via subject terms on ABI/INFORM, and the second time via citations on Social Scisearch. Practitioners in Technology Planning evaluated the search results for relevance. Effectiveness scores were calculated based on relevance judgements performed by experts on how similar the retrieved results were to two known relevant "seed" articles they submitted for the experiment. The study results demonstrated that subject term searches satisfied the information requirement of higher recall with reasonable precision preferred by the experts who participated in the investigation. Citation was found to be an effective method when "seed" documents cited significant prior work. Additionally, it was shown that the number of common documents retrieved by both methods is very small. And that both methods are complementary. This finding is consistent with prior research and implies that subject bibliographies assembled by employing one method alone miss a large proportion of relevant articles. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-02068. AU HERRON, NANCY LEE. SO DAI v47(10), SecA, pp3599. IN University of Pittsburgh Ph.D. 1986, 172 pages. TI Information-seeking behavior and the perceptions of information channels by journalists of two daily metropolitan newspapers. DE Library Science. AB In the last decade the large metropolitan newspaper has undergone an extensive transformation from a largely manual operation to a fully automated system where display terminals link departments and personnel. Although most publishing processes have been transformed via computer applications, often the newspaper library has been the last department to experience change. In order to develop in-house information systems to be used by newspaper journalists for information retrieval in the course of their day-to-day work, planners require data about the information-seeking behavior of different types of journalists and how they search for, use, and verify information available to them from inside and outside the newspaper organization. This study was undertaken to provide descriptive data about how newspaper journalists perceive information channels and the source types within them in the course of producing copy for the daily newspaper. Data was collected from the staffs of the two daily metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, newspapers by survey questionnaire, and data analysis centered around four major variables. Frequency of use, the pivotal variable established information use patterns for the six area of journalistic specialty, and the three source performance variables, (a) ease of use, (b) degree of reliability, and (c) degree of accessibility were examined from the perspective of channel use and use of the source types within formal and informal information channels. The findings revealed that the newspaper journalists surveyed preferred informal channel use over formal channel use two to one, and that personal communication especially with colleagues was the most important factor across all six areas of journalistic specialty. While journalists were relatively consistent in their use of the various source types, there was diversity in the way different types of journalists look for and use information sources. Although reliability of channel and source types use was perceived to be important to journalists, ease of use and accessibility tend most to affect frequency of use. Future developments involving the library as intermediary between electronic networks and the newspaper organization offer promise for in-house system designers as a solution to problems of accessiblity and ease of use. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG86-16899. AU PAULK, BETTY DOUGLAS. SO DAI v47(05), SecA, pp1520. IN The Florida State University Ph.D. 1986, 282 pages. TI The facilitation of direct searching of online services by the end user in academic libraries. DE Library Science. AB Four hundred eighty-seven online search librarians in comprehensive and doctoral institution libraries in the United States were surveyed about end user online searching. Of the 431 respondents (89 percent), only 10.4 percent or forty-five of the responding libraries allow end users direct access to conduct their own online searches. The majority of librarians indicated that they are offering instructional programs in online searching. Upon closer examination of the purpose of this instruction, it was determined that only a small percentage of the instructional programs are actually teaching the user to conduct their own searches. While the majority of the online search librarians believed that end user searching was inevitable, there was a feeling of ambiguity concerning this development. The majority of the librarians believed that online search librarians would assume a more challenging role as a result of end user searching. And yet, the librarians did question whether or not end users were going to want to conduct their own searches and the role the librarian should assume in encouraging end users to conduct their own searches and in training end users to perform these online searches. AN University Microfilms Order Number ADG87-02911. AU SULLIVAN, PATRICIA ANN. SO DAI v47(10), SecA, pp3601. IN Carnegie-Mellon University Ph.D. 1986, 276 pages. TI Rhetoric and the search for externally stored knowledge: toward a computer age art of research. DE Library Science. Education, Technology. AB The search for external sources of argument has traditionally been placed outside the "art" of rhetoric. But college composition classes teach library research through the research paper. Because the advent of the Electronic Library makes traditional library research training obsolete, consideration of building a computer-age art of research is appropriate. This exploratory study examines one facet of the artfulness of searching by studying how expert (6) and novice (6) searchers plan to search LS/2000 (OCLC's online public access catalog) general references. The study finds that experts outperform the novices: experts' plans would find a significantly higher proportion of the relevant sources and are more complex, but experts do not achieve success through economy or more plans. The study also proposes a model of search planning that shows distinctions between expert and novice planning: experts evidence more detail in how they understand the searching task (focusing on searchable terms, setting subgoals, and transforming the question where appropriate), how they simulate the searches they plan (offering more alternative routes, giving specific alternatives), and how they evaluate the plans' success (offering substantive evaluations and planning for failure). The novices do not show an ability to plan without feedback from the system. Patterns, moves, and representational explanations for expert decision-making are examined, with the representational being preferred. Experts represent searching problems and then use strategies (like subgoals and decision rules) to help them build flexible plans that represent their views. The study concludes that the experts in this study can plan LS/2000 searches while the novices cannot. The novices' apparent need for system feedback in order to plan and the experts' systematic approach to searching for questions of general interest suggest that an "art" of online searching may be both needed and possible. ------------------------------ END OF IRList Digest ********************