An empirical analysis of user behaviour on multilingual information retrieval

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to understand user information behaviours when they perform multilingual information retrieval. It also offers reference for the development of multilingual information retrieval systems and relevant service platforms. Design/methodology/approach The authors designed an experiment on multilingual information retrieval with WorldWideScience, utilized Camtasia studio7 (a screen capturing and recording tool) to record overall operational processes of subjects and collected participants’ thought processes with think-aloud protocols. Meanwhile, a questionnaire survey and interviews were used to examine the subjects’ background information, their feelings for the experiment and their ideas about the experimental platform, respectively. Thirty-two valid data points were obtained by 41 subjects. Findings The users preferred their own language for retrieval. Most users from social science chose general search or advanced search freely according to the tasks. The majority of the participants selected key words directly from the tasks as search terms. Doctoral candidates were more likely to construct a search query with logic symbols. Translation tools were utilized for assisting retrieval and solving doubts of translation. When facing obstacles, users stayed on the original web page to explore continually, followed by back to homepage. Originality/value This paper provides a study of user behaviour through investigating how users behave on the whole process of retrieving multilingual information. The findings offer advice for optimizing the function of multilingual information retrieval systems and service platforms.

Evaluating the effectiveness of Farsi-English query production using ontology: a case of scientometric ontology

“…In the field of the Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR), Nzomo et al (2016) stated that increasing multilingual information access (MLIA) tools on electronic databases along with proper information literacy training can be very useful for overcoming language barriers. The findings of Si et al (2017) also showed that users preferred their own language for retrieval. Most subjects chose keywords directly from the tasks they were given as a query.…”

“…These studies have suggested that thesauruses can be a useful resource for selecting queries (Fidel, 1991;Spink, 1994;Brajnik et al, 1995;Efthimiadis, 1996;Sutcliffe et al, 2000;Vakkari, 2000;Shiri et al, 2002Shiri et al, , 2011Shiri et al, , 2010Shiri et al, , 2011Wu, 2010;Chandra and Dwivedi, 2020). The results of the research of R ozsa et al (2015) and Si et al (2017) showed that searchers whose main language was not English turned to English query hoping to find more event results because most of the scientific publications are in English (Peters et al, 2012). In this process, where the question of translation is a major challenge in the various stages of compiling the query (Oard et al, 2008;Nie, 2010;Peters et al, 2012), the use of semantic tools such as ontology can help researchers find important words.…”

“…The results of a study by R ozsa et al (2015) and Si et al (2017) showed that searchers whose main language was not English turned to English query to meet their information needs hoping to find more relevant results because most of the scientific publications are in English (R ozsa et al, 2015).…”

Levelling the Playing Field

“…In the study [26], differences in collaborative information seeking, when compared to the individual's model of the ISP, were identified specifically in the cognitive and affective associated with the part of the process involving the information searcher making relevance judgements. Interestingly, the findings from studies that have likewise focused on behavioural analysis of non-native language speakers information retrieval have suggested the need for subject-specific lexis [30], the importance of online reading abilities [4,19], and the preference for 'their own language for retrieval' [27]. The findings of these studies, as such, appear to suggest that to enable search, focus must be placed on the language used in the activities involved in accomplishing the search process.…”