Modeling search and session effectiveness

Abstract

Many information needs cannot be resolved with a single query, and instead lead naturally to a sequence of queries, issued as a search session. In a session test collection, each topic has an associated query sequence, with users assumed to follow that sequence when reformulating their queries. Here we propose a session-based offline evaluation framework as an extension to the existing query-based C/W/L framework, and use that framework to devise an adaptive session-based effectiveness metric, as a way of measuring the overall usefulness of a search session. To realize that goal, data from two commercial search engines is employed to model the two required behaviors: the user conditional con..