Consolidating user relevance criteria: A meta-ethnography ofempirical studies

摘要

The purpose of this study is to bring together empirical studies on user-based relevancerncriteria and to provide a conceptual framework for the organization of factors affecting relevancernjudgments and information selection. Through systematic analysis applying a meta-ethnographicrnapproach we cluster compatible relevance criteria definitions and resolve semantic differences ofrnthe same named criteria with diverse definitions. The consolidated criteria are factored into fourrndimensions: situational factors pertaining to user's context, task, and cognitive and affectivernstates, user criteria pertaining to users' perceptions and needs, document information elementsrn(DIEs) pertaining to information attributes, and value judgments pertaining to what an informationrnobject means to the user). For further investigation, we propose a set of matrices to depict thernrelationships between dimensions as an effective tool for developing a better understanding ofrnthe relationship and interaction between users' relevance factors. These relationships can guidernIR system design and improvements.