[WEB4LIB] Comparing search engines

[Patricia F Anderson]

Not current (we are writing a book at the moment which is based on this
research), but here it is:

Megasite Project
<http://www.lib.umich.edu/megasite/99srch.html>

We tested 26 general search engines and  26 health  search engines with  4
questions (2 consumer, 2 professional / 2 simple, 2 complex). Questions
and core data given on the  site. Article was published as:

Anderson PF, Allee N. 2000. The Quality Connection: Health Information
Megasites  and Search Engines. In: Guide to Health Care on the Internet,
Chapter 12: Ensuring the  Quality of Health Care Information on the Net.
Faulkner and  Gray, 2000, 159-188.

There are similar articles in a variety of domains, but most of what I've
seen test  fewer engines with fewer questions. I was very happy with the
design of our questions, as they allowed a number of interesting
permutations in searching (phrase, keywork, single concept, multiple
concept, prioritizing concepts, concepts which are also acronyms with
other popular meanings, etc.)

Patricia Anderson, UM Dentistry Library, pfa at umich.edu
<http://www.lib.umich.edu/dentlib/>
<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfa/pro/>

On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, Michael VanHouten wrote:

> Hi everyone -
>
> Does anyone know of a source for sample questions/topics that have been
> used to compare search engine results? I would like to be able find some
> relatively recent studies where search engines are compared head-to-head
> in terms of the results they produce in response to specific questions.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mike
>
>