Results

The following tables give the results of the field trial described above. The results from the two London Business School installations are combined.

Summary results can be analysed at three levels: the session, the query and the search.

• A session covers the time taken and tasks performed between the user clicking the Start button and either ending the session properly or leaving the system to time out. A session consists of one or more queries.

• A query is identified when the user types one or more query terms into the data entry window and presses RETURN. This is either the first query, or a new query following the user's selection of the New Search button. (In practice a few users enter the initial query again to repeat a search.) A normal query consists of one or more searches; however there are instances where users begin a session and then quit without searching.

• The first search is carried out after the user has typed a query and pressed RETURN. Subsequent expanded searches are activated when the user clicks the More Books button.

• Session Summaries
• Initial Searches
• Document Viewing and Judgement
• Query Reformulation
• Query Expansion
• Expanded Searching
• Search Success