Evaluation of
information retrieval
Evaluation of information sources and search
How recent is the primary source?
Consider the publication date of your information
sources. The importance of recent sources depends on your search subject. For
example, biotechnological information tends to date sooner than philosophical
information. On the other hand your point of view matters, too: if your aim is
to handle the development of biotechnology from historical point of view, older
sources can be relevant to you.
How reliable is the information producer?
Reliability of the document is an issue you also need to deal with. You should
evaluate how trustworthy and well-known the information producer is. Can you
suspect that the producer has left something out, whether on purpose or not? You
should regard commercial publications and articles in popular magazines more
critically than for example doctoral theses or scientific articles. Consider the
reliability of source already when you are selecting your sources and especially
when you are using them.
How to evaluate Internet information source?
Internet is an open channel for almost anyone to publish almost anything. This
follows that there is really no pre-control over the quality of information.
Also bear in mind that the accessibility of documents can be unstable in
Internet. We recommend you to rely on for example producer’s reputation or
status. For example statistical information in national statistical office’s WWW
site can be regarded more reliable than that of a commercial company or a single
person.
What original information means?
Usually you should get the original source of information and avoid using second-hand
information. For example, let us presume you have two references by the same
author and with somewhat same title; one refers to an article in a journal and
the other to a doctoral thesis. It is probable that the doctoral thesis is the
original source and the journal article is based on the thesis.
Source criticism
You must be critical when selecting your information sources and using them.
Below there are some aspects of information quality to be weighed from your
research problem’s point of view.
- is the author well-known or opinion-leadder
- what is the background community of the author
- has the author used recognised sources oof information
- authority of the publication (scientificc versus popular)
- how current is the publication
- have the sources been quoted in a correcct manner
- how often is the database or register uppdated
Evaluation of search
You can estimate the success of your search by evaluating the answers or
solutions you got for the problem you phrased in the beginning of the search
process.
Information retrieval presupposes some abilities that can be gained through self-studying
or (preferably) by taking part in teaching and guidance that Mikkeli Polytechnic
Libraries’ will arrange.
You can evaluate your search by looking at the phases of your information
retrieval process:
Did you define your search problem and subject accurately enough?
Did you succeed in planning the search?
Did you use the most applicable search method?
Did you have problems with creating mind-map for your search?
Were you familiar enough with the ways of indexing within your source databases?
Do you know basic information search techniques?
Were you able to select your information sources?
Were you able to paraphrase your search into search sentence according to
databases’ rules?
How did you evaluate your search results?
Were you able to locate desired information sources?
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