Search strategies on a new health information retrieval system

• Published in: Online information review Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 440 - 456
• Main Authors: Mu, Xiangming, Lu, Kun, Ryu, Hohyon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2010; Emerald
• Subjects: Anniversaries; Balancing; Consumer health information; Design engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Health; Hospitals; Information and communication sciences; Information processing and retrieval; Information retrieval; Information retrieval systems; Information retrieval systems. Information and document management system; Information retrieval. Man machine relationship; Information science. Documentation; Information Seeking; Information seeking behavior; Information systems; Knowledge; Knowledge management; Literature reviews; Medical informatics; Medical Subject Headings-MeSH; MeSH; National libraries; On-line systems; Queries; Query formulation; Reference services; Research process. Evaluation; Sciences and techniques of general use; Search engines; Search strategies; Searching; Strategy; Studies; Subject specialists; Trees; Undergraduate Students; Web portals; Information retrieval; Knowledge management; Hospitals; Information systems; Search strategy; Biomedical information; User study; Searching behavior; Information retrieval system
• ISSN: 1468-4527; 1468-4535
• DOI: 10.1108/14684521011054062

Purpose - The goals of this study are: to evaluate the merits of a newly developed health information retrieval system; to investigate users' search strategies when using the new search system; and to study the relationships between users' search strategies and their prior topic knowledge.Design methodology approach - The paper developed a new health information retrieval system called MeshMed. A term browser and a tree browser are included in the new system in addition to the traditional search box. The term browser allows a user to search Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms using natural language. The tree browser presents a hierarchical tree structure of related MeSH terms. A user study with 30 participants was conducted to evaluate the benefits of MeshMed.Findings - The paper found that MeshMed provides a user with more choices to select an appropriate searching component and form more effective search strategies. Based on the time a participant spent using different MeshMed components, the paper identified three different search styles: the traditional style, the novel style, and the balanced style, which falls in between. MeshMed was particularly helpful for users with low topic knowledge.Originality value - A new health information retrieval system (MeshMed) was designed and developed (and is currently available at http: 129.89.43.129 meshmed). This is the first study to explore users' search strategies on such a system. The study results can inform the design of future clinical-oriented health information retrieval systems.