Organizes, describes, and evaluates management information systems research from 1981 to 1985 to provide an understanding of what constitutes management information systems research and to indicate areas for future research. (210 references) (Author/CLB)

Describes a citation analysis of physics, engineering, and sociology literature which was designed to determine if there were any differences in conceptual referencing patterns. The research methodology is described and suggestions for further study are offered. (Author/LRW)

Sixty-one students provided the Library of Congress (LC) subject terms they would use to search an academic library catalog in 30 hypothetical searches. Students had difficulty developing strategies. The study concluded that LC subject cataloging needs rationalization. (KP)

Describes study of manual and experimental automated circulation systems in a university library in Nigeria. Data were collected for eight circulation activities in order to calculate the direct labor costs of circulating a book on each system. Automated system's book circulation costs were higher although direct labor costs were less. (MBR)

Reports on a controlled experiment that compared cloze procedure (human tendency to complete a familiar but not quite finished pattern) and comprehension quiz as measures of computer program understanding. Program comprehension measures, experimental materials, administration, and results are highlighted. Twenty-six references and sample questions…

Discusses the problem of determining an adequate sample size for an information retrieval experiment comparing two systems on separate samples of requests. The application of statistical methods to information retrieval experiments is discussed, the Mann-Whitney U Test is used for determining minimum sample sizes, and variables and distributions…

Demonstrates efficiency of preparation of query description using semantic analyser method based on analysis of semantic structure of documents in field of automatic indexing. Results obtained are compared with automatic indexing results performed by traditional methods and results of indexing done by human indexers. Sample terms and codes are…

Presents a method for abstracting scientific documents based on a psychological model of a problem solving process. Each component of problem structured abstracts--document problem, problem solution, testing method, related problems, and content elements--is described. When compared with INSPEC abstracts, problem structured abstracts were shown to…

Various methods for calculating and presenting results of information retrieval (IR) evaluation research are discussed, with illustrations from recent laboratory results. Highlights include measures for calculating recall and precision, user needs for high or low level of recall, and comparisons of Boolean and ranked output retrieval. (22…

Describes study that compared terminology indexing and citation indexing to determine the similarity of documents retrieved. Information science articles from 1971 to 1983 in three journals were studied for term co-occurrences. The distinction between relevant and pertinent documents is discussed, and further research topics are suggested. (LRW)

Assesses the impact of current coverage and indexing policies on MEDLINE's retrieval performance in the medical behavioral sciences literature by comparing retrievals in EXCERPTA MEDICA, PSYCHINFO, SCISEARCH, and SOCIAL SCISEARCH. Searches were made with descriptors, cited references, and natural language, and recall, precision, and novelty ratios…

Empirical comparisons are made of three statistical sampling methods evaluated for estimating total number of relevant documents in collection for given query: simple random sampling, random sampling which assigns unequal selection probabilities to individual documents in collection, and curve fitting and extrapolation. Nine references and…

Describes the results of a survey that examined what kinds of database vendors are improving their retrieval software and the decision processes involved. Respondents included large and small vendors from the public and private sectors. An appendix presents vendors' reasons for and against specific innovations. (12 references) (CLB)