Query Formulations for Information Retrieval by Intelliginer Analysts

Abstract

There have been many claims to the effect that advanced information retrieval technologies such as the vector space model (VSM) significantly outperform Boolean search engines in retrieval effectiveness. Most of these claims are anecdotal and rely on arguments such as: queries are diffi- cult to construct or output size is hard to control. In spite of these claims, most operational re- trieval systems in use today are Boolean. Some of the popularity derives from the claim that Boolean IR systems are high precision.We com- pare and contrast Boolean query formulations, including the effect of query expansion, with simply derived VSM models.