Clint Fuchs
ABSTRACT
In this paper, an analysis of word ambiguity is conducted on an Excite Search Engine query log consisting of 52,167 queries. Each query is analyzed for each term and if any interaction of terms with queries reduces ambiguity. The data supports the conjecture that merely adding additional terms to a short (five or fewer terms) query statement is insignificant in reducing the ambiguity of the terms being searched for. Specifically, it is shown that regardless of the number of terms, typically one to five words in a query, the search remains ambiguous. The average query length is 2.21 words, and two search words will be shown to provide the least ambiguous results. In addition, it will be shown that a search with at least one unambiguous word tends to produce unambiguous search results, while the opposite tends not to be true, that adding terms does not help reduce ambiguity.
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Index Terms
- Work in progress: effects of multiple words on ambiguity in information retrieval
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