Information organization and retrieval using a topic maps-based ontology: Results of a task-based evaluation

As information becomes richer and more complex, alternative information-organization methods are needed to more effectively and efficiently retrieve information from various systems, including the Web. The objective of this study is to explore how a Topic Maps-based ontology approach affects usersʹ searching performance. Forty participants participated in a task-based evaluation where two dependent variables, recall and search time, were measured. The results of this study indicate that a Topic Maps-based ontology information retrieval (TOIR) system has a significant and positive effect on both recall and search time, compared to a thesaurus-based information retrieval (TIR) system. These results suggest that the inclusion of a Topic Maps-based ontology is a beneficial approach to take when designing information retrieval systems.