Learning by Example: training users with high-quality query suggestions

Harvey, Morgan, Hauff, Claudia and Elsweiler, David (2015) Learning by Example: training users with high-quality query suggestions. In: 38th Annual ACM SIGIR Conference, 9 - 13 August 2015, Santiago.

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Abstract

The queries submitted by users to search engines often poorly describe their information needs and represent a potential bottleneck in the system. In this paper we investigate to what extent it is possible to aid users in learning how to for- mulate better queries by providing examples of high-quality queries interactively during a number of search sessions. By means of several controlled user studies we collect quantita- tive and qualitative evidence that shows: (1) study partic- ipants are able to identify and abstract qualities of queries that make them highly effective, (2) after seeing high-quality example queries participants are able to themselves create queries that are highly effective, and, (3) those queries look similar to expert queries as defined in the literature. We con- clude by discussing what the findings mean in the context of the design of interactive search systems.

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