- Gl -GLOSSARY
Term

Definition

Text
Reference

actual candidate

document satisfying matching condition
in searching

B IV.1.1

alternative request

different form of request primary
indexing

A II.1.2.1

baseline

simple term matching retrieval
performance

A III.2.2

candidatedocument at some stage of selection
in searchingsee B IV.1.1

class-mateother members of any classes in whicha term occurs

B III.2

cliqueform of term class linking each term
to all others (see Appendix 1)

B III.2

clump

form of term class linking each term
to some others (see Appendix 1)

B III.2

collection

see test collection

collection frequency

number of documents (descriptions)in a collection containing a term

B II.3.1

collection frequency
weightterm weight based on its collection
frequency

B II.3.1

completely ordered

fully ordered search output including
all documents in a collection

A III.2.1.3

componentof a retrieval system, in the mostgeneral sense

A III.2

description

characterisation of a document orrequest

A II.1.2

description exhaustivity see indexing description exhaustivity
description length

document length or term length

B II.3.1description length
weightterm weight based on description
lengthB II.3.1

discrimination weightterm weight based on Salton's Q
function (see Appendix 1)

B II.3.1

document cutoff

basis for recall and precisioncomputation

A III.3.2.1

document length

total of term postings in a document
description

B II.3.1

experimentsearch and performance comparison
relative to a topic

A III.lexhaustivity

see indexing description exhaustivity

factorsystem component affecting performance

A III.2

file length

posting frequency or collection
frequency

B II.3.1

- G2 -file length weightterm weight based on file length

B II.3.1

fully ordered

ordered search output with one
retrieved document per rank

A III.2.1.3

globalfactor affecting an entire retrieval
systemA III.2.1.1

indexing factor

factor affecting the descriptions ofdocuments and requests

A III.2.1

indexing description
exhaustivity

number of index terms per description

A III.2.1.1

indexing mode

automatic or manual preparation ofprimary indexing

A II.1.2

indexing source

form of document or request used forindexing

A III.2.1.1

indexing vocabulary
specificity

number of documents per term

A III.2.1.1

input factor

factor affecting input documents andrequests

A III.2.1

keywordtext word

A 1.3

local

factor affecting parts of a retrieval
systemA III.2.1.1

matching condition

form of matching between requests anddocuments

A III.2.1.3

matching rank

point of comparison between request
search outputs

A III.3.2.1

matching value

point of comparison between request
search outputs

A III.3.2.1

material

difference between recall/precisiongraphs of at least 10%

A III.3.2.1

minimally ordered

ordered search output with all
retrieved documents at the same rank

A III.2.1.3

mode

see indexing mode

nominal candidate

document identified by scanning
strategy in searching

B IV.1.1

noticeable

difference between recall/precisiongraphs of at least 5%

A III.3.2.1

ordered (output)

partially or fully ordered search
outputA III.2.1.3

output factor

factor affecting search conduct andoutput

A III.2.1

output form

output as naturally generated by asearch procedure

A III.2.1.3

output typeoutput as used for comparativeevaluation

A III.2.1.3

parameter

environmental factor (not subject tocontrol)

A III.2.1

- G3 -

partially ordered

ordered search output allowing morethan one retrieved document per rank

A III.2.1.

posting frequency

number of postings of a term in acollection

B II.3.1

potential candidate

document available for retrieval

B IV.1.1

primary indexing

word or word-stem lists representing
document and request sources

A II.1.2

proposition

statement germane to a particularresearch topic and related toexperiments

A III.lquasi-Boolean

search procedure imposing Boolean
constraints on coordination level
matching

C I.1.1

raw material

initial documents and request needstatements

A II. 1.2

recall cutoff

basis for recall and precisioncomputation

A III. 3.2.

relevance frequency

number of relevant documents(descriptions) containing a term

B II.3. 2

relevance variants

sets of relevant documents definedby different relevance grades

relevance weightterm weight based on relevance frequency

runaveraged search output for specific
A III.lrequest, document and relevance sets,involving specific indexing and searchingprocedures

run setspecific run output for different
collections

B I

scanning strategy

form of search inspection of acollection

A III.2.1.

scoring coefficient

specific measure for match scoring

B IV.1.1.1

scoring criterion

type of scoring for a request-document
match

A III.2.1.

sourcesee indexing source

source material

forms of documents and request needstatements exploited in indexing andrelevance assessment

specificity

see indexing vocabulary specificity

starform of term class linking terms to acommon term (see Appendix 1)

B III.2

stringform of term class linking one term toanother (see Appendix 1)

B III.2

sub-Boolean

search procedure combining Boolean
constraints with differential scoring

C II. 1.2

•A II.1.2.2
B II. 3.2

A II.1.2

- G4 -

subsidiary collection

variant, e.g. part of, a testcollection

A II.1.2

successful candidate

document actually deemed retrieved
and output

B IV.1.1

term

extracted word stem

A 1.3

term classification

any grouping of index terms

A III.2.1.2

term length

number of terms in a document
description13 II. 3.1

term weighting

any weighting of index terms in adescription

A III.2.1.2

test collection

particular set of primary indexing
descriptions for some source material

A II.1.2

topic

subject of investigation

A III.lunordered (output)

minimally ordered output

A III.2.1.3

valueof a system variable

A III.2.1

value setgroup of similar values

A III.2.1

variablesystem factor (subject to control)

A III.2.1

versionform of raw material represented by aspecific collection

A II.1.2

vocabulary

see indexing vocabulary

vocabulary specificity

see indexing vocabulary specificity

within-document
frequency

number of postings of a term in adocument description

B II.3.1

within-document
frequency weightterm weight based on within-document
frequency

B II.3.1