IR Unit 5

1)Explain Traditional effectiveness measure and The Text Retrieval Conference (TREC) with suitable examples.

Traditional Effectiveness Measures

Traditional effectiveness measures assess the quality of information retrieval (IR) systems by evaluating their ability to
retrieve relevant documents in response to user queries. Key measures include:

Precision

Definition: The ratio of relevant documents retrieved to the total number of documents retrieved.

Formula: Precision = Relevant Documents Retrieved / Total Documents Retrieved

Example: If a search engine retrieves 10 documents and 6 are relevant, precision = 6 / 10 = 0.6.

Purpose: Higher precision indicates fewer irrelevant results, reflecting the IR system's filtering capability.

Recall

Definition: The ratio of relevant documents retrieved to the total number of relevant documents in the dataset.

Formula: Recall = Relevant Documents Retrieved / Total Relevant Documents

Example: If there are 20 relevant documents and the system retrieves 6, recall = 6 / 20 = 0.3.

Purpose: Higher recall means more relevant documents are retrieved, showing the system's ability to capture relevant
information.

F1-score

Definition: The harmonic mean of precision and recall, balancing both metrics.

Formula: F1-score = 2 × (Precision × Recall) / (Precision + Recall)

Example: With a precision of 0.6 and recall of 0.3, F1-score ≈ 0.4.

Purpose: Useful when precision and recall need to be balanced, as in search engines.

Mean Average Precision (MAP)

An advanced measure that averages precision across multiple queries, then calculates the mean, useful for evaluating
ranked retrieval effectiveness.

The Text Retrieval Conference (TREC)

The Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the
Department of Defense, promotes research in IR by providing a standardized evaluation platform. Since 1992, TREC
has tested IR systems on large datasets and varied queries. Its structure includes:

Tracks: TREC is divided into tracks that address specific IR challenges, such as:

Ad Hoc Retrieval Track: Standard document retrieval for unforeseen queries.

Question-Answering Track: Evaluates systems that provide direct answers to questions.

Spam Track: Tests systems on identifying and filtering out spam.

Datasets: TREC provides extensive datasets, often including news articles, web pages, and specialized domains (like
biomedical texts), simulating real-world IR challenges.
Evaluation: TREC uses metrics like MAP, precision at specific ranks (P@10), and normalized discounted cumulative
gain (NDCG) to enable standardized system comparisons.

Example of TREC Evaluation

In a TREC track for medical information retrieval, participants receive a database of medical research articles. A sample
query might be "What are the latest treatments for Type 2 diabetes?" Systems are evaluated on their ability to retrieve
relevant articles on this topic, using precision, recall, and MAP to assess relevance and ranking.

2) Write a short note on :

1)Non traditional effectiveness measures

Non-Traditional Effectiveness Measures

Non-traditional effectiveness measures go beyond standard metrics like precision, recall, and F1-score to evaluate
information retrieval (IR) systems. These measures often focus on aspects such as user satisfaction, the relevance of
retrieved documents, and the overall user experience. Key non-traditional measures include:

Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain (NDCG): This metric accounts for the position of relevant documents in the
result set, giving higher importance to documents that appear earlier in the list. It is particularly useful for evaluating
ranked retrieval systems, as it emphasizes user behavior where users are more likely to click on higher-ranked results.

Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR): This measure focuses on the first relevant document in the retrieval results. It calculates
the average reciprocal rank of the first relevant document across multiple queries, providing insights into how quickly
users find relevant information.

User-Centric Metrics: These include user satisfaction surveys, click-through rates, and task completion rates. They
assess how well the retrieval system meets user needs based on real interactions, thus providing a more
comprehensive view of effectiveness.

Fallout and Miss Rate: Fallout measures the proportion of irrelevant documents retrieved compared to all irrelevant
documents, while miss rate assesses the proportion of relevant documents that were not retrieved. These metrics help
in understanding false positives and negatives in retrieval.

2)Measuring efficiency

Measuring Efficiency

Measuring efficiency in information retrieval systems refers to evaluating how well the system performs its tasks in
terms of resource utilization and speed. Key aspects of measuring efficiency include:

Response Time: This metric assesses how quickly a system retrieves results in response to user queries. Faster
response times generally lead to better user experience and satisfaction.

Throughput: Throughput measures the number of queries processed by the system in a given timeframe. High
throughput indicates that the system can handle a large volume of requests efficiently.

Resource Utilization: This involves assessing the computational resources used by the system, such as CPU, memory,
and network bandwidth. Efficient systems optimize resource usage while maintaining high performance.

Scalability: Scalability evaluates how well the system can handle increased loads, such as more users or larger
datasets, without a significant drop in performance.

Cost Efficiency: This considers the cost associated with running the IR system (infrastructure, maintenance, etc.)
relative to its performance. A cost-effective system provides a good balance between performance and resource
expenditure.
3) What is Scheduling and Caching in Measuring Efficiency?. Explain in detail.

Scheduling

Scheduling in computing refers to the method of managing the execution of processes and tasks in an efficient manner.
In the context of information retrieval (IR) systems, scheduling can involve several aspects:

Query Scheduling:

In IR systems, multiple user queries can be submitted simultaneously. Effective query scheduling determines the order
in which these queries are processed. The goal is to minimize response time and maximize throughput.

Strategies:

First-Come, First-Served (FCFS): Processes queries in the order they arrive. While simple, it may lead to long wait times
for some queries.

Priority-Based Scheduling: Assigns priority levels to queries based on factors such as user importance, query
complexity, or expected execution time. High-priority queries are processed first, which can improve user satisfaction
for critical requests.

Batch Processing: Groups multiple queries to be processed simultaneously, taking advantage of shared resources and
reducing overhead.

Query Scheduling Example

Scenario: A university library's online catalog receives multiple queries.

Queries:

Query A: "Find articles on machine learning."

Query B: "Latest books on artificial intelligence."

Query C: "Research papers on climate change."

Scheduling Strategy: Priority-Based Scheduling

Faculty queries (e.g., Query A) are given higher priority than student queries.

Processing Order:

The system processes Query A first, then Query B, followed by Query C.

Result: This ensures that urgent queries from faculty are handled quickly, improving user satisfaction.

Resource Scheduling:

Efficiently allocating system resources (CPU, memory, disk I/O) among various processes is crucial for IR system
performance.

Load Balancing: Distributes workloads evenly across available resources to prevent bottlenecks and ensure no single
resource is over-utilized.

Time-Slicing: Allocates time slots for processes, allowing them to share CPU resources effectively without
monopolizing the system.

User-Centric Scheduling:

Scheduling can also consider user behavior patterns. For example, if certain queries are known to be more frequent
during specific times, the system can preemptively allocate resources to handle these expected loads.
Caching

Caching is the technique of storing copies of frequently accessed data in a temporary storage area (the cache) to
reduce access time and resource consumption. In IR systems, caching can significantly enhance efficiency through
various mechanisms:

Result Caching:

When a user submits a query, the system retrieves results from the database or index. Caching allows the system to
store these results so that if the same or a similar query is issued again, the system can quickly return cached results
without performing a full retrieval process.

Benefits:

Reduces query response time for frequently asked queries.

Decreases load on backend systems, freeing up resources for other tasks.

Document Caching:

Instead of caching query results, entire documents or snippets can be stored. This is particularly useful for systems
where users often access the same documents.

Caching specific document content can improve retrieval speed and user satisfaction, especially in environments with
high read-to-write ratios.

Dynamic Caching:

Caching can also adapt based on user behavior. For instance, if certain queries or documents are frequently accessed
during peak times, the system can keep those items in cache to reduce access time.

Cache Expiration and Replacement:

Caches have limited storage capacity, so mechanisms must be in place to decide when to expire or replace cached
items. Common strategies include:

Least Recently Used (LRU): Removes the least recently accessed items first, ensuring that frequently accessed items
remain available.

Time-Based Expiration: Cached items are removed after a certain period, ensuring that stale data does not persist.

Caching Example

Scenario: An e-commerce website frequently receives queries for popular products.

Initial Query: A user searches for "wireless headphones," and the system retrieves the top results.

Result Caching:

The results are stored in a cache for quick access.

Subsequent Query: A second user searches for "wireless headphones."

The system checks the cache, finds the previous results, and serves them immediately.

Result: This reduces response time for repeated queries, enhancing efficiency and user experience.
4) Write a short note on :

1)Using statistics in evaluation

Using Statistics in Evaluation

Using statistics in evaluation involves applying quantitative methods to assess the performance of information retrieval
(IR) systems. Statistical techniques help in analyzing the effectiveness and efficiency of these systems, providing
insights into their strengths and weaknesses. Key aspects include:

Performance Metrics: Statistical measures such as precision, recall, F1-score, and Mean Average Precision (MAP)
quantify how well a system retrieves relevant documents. These metrics allow for comparisons between different
systems or configurations.

Confidence Intervals: Evaluators can use confidence intervals to determine the reliability of their performance
estimates. This helps in understanding the range within which the true performance metrics are likely to fall.

Hypothesis Testing: Statistical tests can compare different IR systems or approaches to determine if observed
differences in performance are statistically significant. This aids in making data-driven decisions about system
improvements.

Data Visualization: Graphical representations of performance metrics can help in identifying trends, patterns, and
outliers, making it easier to communicate findings to stakeholders.

By incorporating statistical methods, evaluators can ensure a rigorous and objective assessment of IR systems, leading
to better decision-making and improvements.

2)Minimizing adjudication Effort

Minimizing Adjudication Effort

Minimizing adjudication effort refers to reducing the workload involved in evaluating the relevance of retrieved
documents, particularly in the context of information retrieval evaluations. Adjudication typically involves human judges
assessing whether retrieved documents are relevant to given queries. Strategies to minimize this effort include:

Sampling Techniques: Instead of evaluating all retrieved documents, evaluators can use statistical sampling methods
to select a representative subset. This approach reduces the number of documents that need to be assessed while still
providing reliable performance estimates.

Automated Relevance Feedback: Utilizing algorithms to automatically determine the relevance of documents based on
user interactions (e.g., clicks, time spent) can reduce the need for manual adjudication. Systems can learn from user
behavior to prioritize and filter results.

Crowdsourcing: Engaging multiple users or crowd workers to evaluate relevance can distribute the workload, making
the process faster and less burdensome for any single evaluator.

Clear Guidelines and Training: Providing clear criteria and training for adjudicators can streamline the process and
ensure consistency in relevance assessments, leading to more efficient evaluations.