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Use of collaborative recommendations for web search: an exploratory user study

Rutgers University, USA, xzhang{at}scils.rutgers.edu

Yuelin Li

Rutgers University, USA

This study investigated use of collaborative recommendations in web searching. An experimental system was designed. In the experimental system, recommendations were generated in a group report format, including items judged relevant by previous users, search queries and the URLs of documents. The study explored how users used these items, the effects of their use, and what factors contributed to this use. The results demonstrate that users preferred using queries and document sources (URLs), rather than relevance judgment (document ratings). The findings also show that using recommended items had a significant effect on the number of documents viewed, but not on precision or number of queries. Task difficulty and search skills had significant impact on the use. Possible reasons for the results are analyzed. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Key Words: collaborative recommendations • web search • information retrieval • user evaluation

This version was published on April 1, 2008

Journal of Information Science, Vol. 34, No. 2, 145-161 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0165551507080413


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