Relevance judgment: What do information users consider beyond topicality?

  • Authors:

  • Yunjie (Calvin) Xu;Zhiwei Chen

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Information Systems, School of Computing, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, 117543, Singapore;Media Data System Pte Ltd., 1 Sims Lane, #08-01, 387355, Singapore

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology - Research Articles
  • Year:
  • 2006

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Abstract

How does an information user perceive a document as relevant? The literature on relevance has identified numerous factors affecting such a judgment. Taking a cognitive approach, this study focuses on the criteria users employ in making relevance judgment beyond topicality. On the basis of Grice's theory of communication, we propose a five-factor model of relevance: topicality, novelty, reliability, understandability, and scope. Data are collected from a semicontrolled survey and analyzed by following a psychometric procedure. Topicality and novelty are found to be the two essential relevance criteria. Understandability and reliability are also found to be significant, but scope is not. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.