RUcore: Rutgers University Community Repository
The impact of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms on information seeking effectiveness
Descriptive
TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo
(ID = T-1)
Title
The impact of MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms on information seeking effectiveness
NonSort
The
Identifier
ETD_1647
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001600001.ETD.000051373
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2);
(type = code)
eng
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject
(ID = SBJ-1);
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Communication, Information and Library Studies
Subject
(ID = SBJ-1);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Information retrieval
Subject
(ID = SBJ-1);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Subject headings
Abstract
To what extent do MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms improve search effectiveness of different kinds of users? We observed four different kinds of searchers using an experimental information retrieval (IR) system: (1) search novices; (2) domain experts; (3) search experts and (4) medical librarians. The information needs were a subset of the relatively difficult topics originally created for the Text REtrieval Conference (TREC). By experimental design, we used 20 search topics in an IR user experiment to alleviate search topic variability. Effectiveness of retrieval was based on the relevance judgments set provided by TREC. Thirty-two participants searched either using a version of the system in which abstracts and MeSH terms were displayed or another version in which they had to formulate their own terms based only on the display of abstracts. We found that MeSH terms were more useful for domain experts than for search experts in terms of the precision measure, even though domain experts did not perceive that MeSH terms were useful. We speculate that because of the technical topics, only the domain experts had the knowledge to understand and therefore make use of the MeSH terms. The primary contributions of this research are: (1) assessment of relative impact of searchers characteristics of domain knowledge and search training on search effectiveness and (2) design and methodology for assessing the usefulness of controlled vocabulary. The effort to create MeSH terms is worthwhile for domain experts' searches on technical topics.
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
xiii, 150 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-126)
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Ying-Hsang Liu
Name
(ID = NAME-1);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Liu
NamePart
(type = given)
Ying-Hsang
NamePart
(type = date)
1975
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
author
DisplayForm
Ying-Hsang Liu
Name
(ID = NAME-2);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Wacholder
NamePart
(type = given)
Nina
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
chair
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Nina Wacholder
Name
(ID = NAME-3);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Kantor
NamePart
(type = given)
Paul
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Paul Kantor
Name
(ID = NAME-4);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Lesk
NamePart
(type = given)
Michael
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
internal member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Michael Lesk
Name
(ID = NAME-5);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Shan
NamePart
(type = given)
Chung-chieh
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
outside member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Chung-chieh Shan
Name
(ID = NAME-1);
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
degree grantor
Name
(ID = NAME-2);
(type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB);
(type = )
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(point = );
(qualifier = exact)
2009
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2009-05
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
PhysicalLocation
(authority = marcorg);
(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3CV4J08
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
Back to the top
Rights
RightsDeclaration
(AUTHORITY = GS);
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
RightsEvent
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = 1)
Type
Permission or license
Detail
Non-exclusive ETD license
AssociatedObject
(AUTHORITY = rulib);
(ID = 1)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Back to the top
Technical
ContentModel
ETD
MimeType
(TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType
(TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize
(UNIT = bytes)
2088960
Checksum
(METHOD = SHA1)
363d3c351272919062dad5a2aa75933920aee05e
Back to the top
Statistical Profile