Thesis

Exploring exploratory search when conducting literature review tasks

Conteúdo disponível para baixar

Baixar PDF
Creator
Rights statement
Awarding institution
  • University of Strathclyde
Date of award
  • 2024
Thesis identifier
  • T16878
Person Identifier (Local)
  • 202088619
Qualification Level
Qualification Name
Department, School or Faculty
Abstract
  • The last two decades have seen a growing interest in exploratory and complex searches in the information-seeking and retrieval community. Despite the plethora of proposed definitions and support interfaces for Exploratory Search, the key dimensions and characteristics of exploratory search remain unclear, leading to uncertainty. In the realm of information-seeking and retrieval, exploring academic literature for relevant references, including theses, publications, and reports, is widely recognised as an exploratory search task. This task becomes even more challenging when searchers have limited prior knowledge of the subject matter. Therefore, this thesis aims to understand the main dimensions and characteristics of exploratory search tasks, mainly focusing on literature review tasks. The original contributions of this thesis are fourfold: Firstly, it offers a conceptual model of exploratory search, consolidating an array of characteristics about the core dimensions of exploratory search—namely, the problem context, users, and search process. Secondly, through a series of empirical studies, the thesis validates this model and introduces additional dimensions and characteristics, including ‘Knowledge Gain.’ Thirdly, it investigates the impact of the support exploratory interfaces on users’ behaviours, perceptions, search outcomes, and overall experiences during exploratory searches within academic contexts. Lastly, serving as a specialised application of the exploratory search model, the thesis introduces a tailored version to cater to the requirements of literature review tasks. These insights aid in understanding the richness and multifaceted nature of exploratory searches and have the potential to shape design support user interfaces within the Information Seeking and Retrieval community.
Advisor / supervisor
  • Ruthven, Ian, 1968-
  • Azzopardi, Leif
Resource Type
DOI

Relações

Itens

Miniatura Título Data de carga Acesso Ações
file details PDF of thesis T16878 2024-04-16 Público Baixar