Where Do Queries Come From?

Abstract

Where do queries - the words searchers type into a search box - come from? The Information Retrieval community understands the performance of queries and search engines extensively, and has recently begun to examine the impact of query variation, showing that different queries for the same information need produce different results. In an information environment where bad actors try to nudge searchers toward misinformation, this is worrisome. The source of query variation - searcher characteristics, contextual or linguistic prompts, cognitive biases, or even the influence of external parties - while studied in a piecemeal fashion by other research communities has not been studied by ours. In..