The effect of queries and search result quality on the rate of query abandonment in interactive information retrieval

Abstract

When a search result does not satisfy a user's needs, the user often abandons their query and submits a reformulated query in the hopes of receiving better search results. The action of abandoning search results is termed query abandonment, and previous research has indicated possible reasons for this action, such as dissatisfaction with the result or coming up with a better query. Query abandonment can be seen as a negative or positive signal. As we move closer to understanding when and what causes a user to abandon their query under different qualities of search results, we move forward in the development of an overall understanding of user behaviour with search engines. This can be helpful for developing more accurate evaluation measures and better methods of collecting relevance judgments. In this work project, we plan to study how the quality of both queries and search results can affect the rate and time users abandon their queries. Specifically, we discuss experiments to investigate the rate at which users abandon their query at different levels of search quality, and whether user examination is affected by the type of non-relevant results. User behaviour in our studies will be analyzed with a combination of eye-tracking and questionnaires. The use of eye-tracking will accurately measure user attention to different elements in the search engine results page (SERP) and how far in the search results a user examines before abandoning the query. Questionnaires will provide insights from users' perspectives into the form and quality of submitted queries.