Search Results
On the Impact of Features and Classifiers for Measuring Knowledge Gain during Web Search - A Case Study
2021, Gritz, Wolfgang, Hoppe, Anett, Ewerth, Ralph, Cong, Gao, Ramanath, Maya
Search engines are normally not designed to support human learning intents and processes. The ÿeld of Search as Learning (SAL) aims to investigate the characteristics of a successful Web search with a learning purpose. In this paper, we analyze the impact of text complexity of Web pages on predicting knowledge gain during a search session. For this purpose, we conduct an experimental case study and investigate the in˝uence of several text-based features and classiÿers on the prediction task. We build upon data from a study of related work, where 104 participants were given the task to learn about the formation of lightning and thunder through Web search. We perform an extensive evaluation based on a state-of-the-art approach and extend it with additional features related to textual complexity of Web pages. In contrast to prior work, we perform a systematic search for optimal hyperparameters and show the possible in˝uence of feature selection strategies on the knowledge gain prediction. When using the new set of features, state-of-the-art results are noticeably improved. The results indicate that text complexity of Web pages could be an important feature resource for knowledge gain prediction.