Estimating effective display size in online retrieval systems

摘要

This article outlines a problem in commercial online retrieval systems, provides a review of the relevant literature, and presents a solution for a special case of the problem. Previous investigators have considered how to best determine, for a ranked list of records retrieved from an online retrieval system, whether or not the user should continue to display the output. This article examines the problem of how effective display size can be estimated as a means of assisting the users of commercial online retrieval systems. Although no experimental results are as yet available, the approach presented here will provide a guide to and prolegomenon for systematic study of the problem, as well as a method for providing the estimated number of relevant records remaining in a retrieved set ranked by a retrieval status value.