Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) Assignment Questions
UNIT I : Introduction to Information storage and retrieval systems: Domain Analysis of IR
systems, IR and other types of Information Systems, IR System Evaluation Introduction to
Data structures and algorithms related to Information Retrieval: Basic Concepts, Data
structures, Algorithms.
Short Answer Questions :
1. What is the primary goal of an Information Retrieval (IR) system?
2. Name two typical types of queries that an IR system processes.
3. How does an IR system fundamentally differ from a Database Management System (DBMS)?
4. Briefly define "precision" in the context of IR system evaluation.
5. What is "recall" in the context of IR system evaluation?
6. Mention one challenge involved in the domain analysis of an IR system.
7. What is an "inverted index" and why is it crucial for IR?
8. Define "tokenization" in the context of text processing for IR.
9. What is the purpose of "stemming" in an IR system?
10. Name a common data structure used to store an inverted index.
11. Briefly explain the role of a "posting list" in information retrieval.
12. Give an example of a basic algorithm used for ranking documents in an IR system.
Long Answer Questions :
1. Explain the concept of "Domain Analysis" in the context of Information Retrieval (IR) systems.
Why is it crucial to perform a thorough domain analysis before designing an IR system?
2. Compare and contrast Information Retrieval (IR) systems with Database Management Systems
(DBMS). Highlight at least three key differences in their primary goals and functionalities.
3. Discuss how Information Retrieval systems differ from Expert Systems. Provide examples to
illustrate their distinct approaches to information processing and user interaction.
4. Describe the importance of evaluating Information Retrieval systems. Explain two common
measures used for IR system evaluation, such as Precision and Recall, and how they are calculated.
5. What are the main challenges faced when evaluating the effectiveness of an Information Retrieval
system? Discuss at least three factors that can complicate the evaluation process.
6. Explain the concept of "Relevance" in the context of Information Retrieval. Why is defining and
measuring relevance a complex task, and how does it impact IR system design and evaluation?
7. Explain the basic concepts of "indexing" and "tokenization" in Information Retrieval. Why are
these fundamental processes for efficient retrieval?
8. Describe the structure and purpose of an "inverted index" in Information Retrieval. Illustrate with a
simple example showing how it maps terms to documents.
9. Discuss the role of "stop words" and "stemming" (or lemmatization) in information retrieval
algorithms. How do these techniques help in improving retrieval efficiency and effectiveness?
10. Explain the concept of "Boolean Retrieval Model." Describe how it uses logical operators for
querying and what are its main advantages and limitations.
11. Detail the characteristics and applications of a "Trie" data structure in Information Retrieval,
particularly for tasks like prefix searching or spell checking.
12. Beyond inverted indexes, discuss two other data structures commonly used in Information
Retrieval, such as signature files or suffix arrays/trees, and briefly explain their application.
UNIT II : Inverted Files and Signature Files: Introduction, Structures used in Inverted
Files, building an Inverted file using a sorted array, Modifications to the Basic Techniques.
Signature Files: Concepts of Signature files, Compression, Vertical Partitioning,
Horizontal Partitioning.
Short Answer Questions :
1. What is the primary purpose of an Inverted File?
2. Briefly describe the basic structure of an Inverted File.
3. How is a sorted array used in building an Inverted File?
4. Mention two modifications that can be applied to the basic techniques of Inverted Files.
5. What is the fundamental concept behind a Signature File?
6. How does a Signature File differ from an Inverted File?
7. Define the term "bit-slice" in the context of Signature Files.
8. What is the main objective of compression in Signature Files?
9. Explain the concept of Vertical Partitioning for Signature Files.
10. What is a "superimposed coding" in the context of Signature Files?
11. Give a simple example of a term and its corresponding posting list in an Inverted File.
12. How does Horizontal Partitioning improve query performance in Signature Files?
Long Answer Questions :
1. Elaborate on the different structures used in Inverted Files, and discuss the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
2. Explain the step-by-step process of building an Inverted File using a sorted array, and discuss the
modifications that can be applied to this technique.
3. Describe the fundamental concepts of Signature Files, including how signatures are generated and used
for query processing.
4. Compare and contrast Inverted Files and Signature Files based on their structure, query processing
approach, and space efficiency.
5. Explain the concept of Compression in Signature Files. Describe at least two compression techniques
and how they reduce storage requirements.
6. Discuss Vertical Partitioning and Horizontal Partitioning in detail. Explain how each method organizes
the signature file data and how it impacts query performance.
7. You are given a set of documents. Explain how you would construct an Inverted File from these
documents and then demonstrate a query for a single term.
8. Describe the process of a query in a Signature File system. How is the signature of a query term used to
filter out non-matching documents?
9. Explain the modifications to the basic techniques of Inverted Files. Provide examples of how these
modifications improve efficiency.
10. How do both Vertical and Horizontal Partitioning address the limitations of a simple, single-block
Signature File? Discuss the trade-offs of each approach.
11. Detail the data structures for an Inverted File, including the dictionary and the postings lists. Explain
how they work together to facilitate quick document retrieval.
12. Explain how a Signature File uses superimposed coding. Describe the steps of generating a word
signature and then a document signature, and how a query signature is matched against the document
signatures.
