Studying Users’ Relevance Judgment for Images Retrieved from Google Search Engine

With the development of the web, image search is considered to be one of the most important approaches and one of the major challenges for users. On the other hand, relevance as a cognitive concept has always been of interest and dates back to the time when one tried to retrieve and make good use of information. The inadequacy of the algorithmic approach proved that it is only the user himself who can judge the relevance of the document to its need and use. As a result, mental attitude has replaced military relevance in relevance studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate the viewpoints of graduate students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad on subjective and objective criteria of relevance judgment in image retrieval from Google search engine in order to provide solutions to improve the retrieval approach in image retrieval systems.

This is an applied research using survey method. The statistical population of this study is graduate students of Ferdowsi University. Thirty male and female of BA, MA and doctoral students from various faculties of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad formed the sample of this study. The research data were collected through a questionnaire consisting of four sections. The first and the second part of the questionnaire before the beginning of the search session and the third and fourth part of the questionnaire after the end of the search session were given to the subjects. In this regard, subjective and objective criteria of judgment of the users in relation to the images were studied in order to determine with what criteria the users judge the relevance of the images and make their choice.

The findings showed that, in both subjective and objective judgment stages, except for "subject" criteria, "updating", "image attraction", "accessibility" and "information quality" criteria were important. The most relevant criteria for judging students regarding the relevance of images retrieved in Google's search engine were identified. In addition to the stated criteria, it was observed that the users focused on the "information effect" with emphasis on criteria such as "interesting" and "enjoyable" and the average score above these criteria indicates their importance. The findings also indicated that users place less importance on the creator(s) of the image as a specific criterion in the web environment, and these criteria are not among their top priorities in information selection. In general, it can be said that the judgment of the user on the basis of their needs, feelings and situation is very important. It is recommended that further research be carried out in order to obtain new findings in order to assist in the design of more efficient and more appropriate image search engines that are consistent with user behavior and characteristics.

What distinguishes the present study from other studies is the image search approach that has been studied with emphasis on Iranian users, Google search engine, and in two stages of subjective judgment and objective judgment that differs from the other researches.