In this thesis, we aim at improving the search result quality by utilizing the search intelligence (history of searches) available in the form of click-through data. We address two key issues, namely 1) relevance feedback extraction and fusion, and 2) deciphering search query intentions. Relevance Feedback Extraction and Fusion: The existing search engines depend heavily on the web linkage structure in the form of hyperlinks to determine the relevance and importance of the documents. But these are collective judgments given by the page authors and hence, prone to collaborated spamming. To overcome the spamming attempts and language semantic issues, it is also important to incorporate the user feedback on the documents' relevance. Since users can be hardly motivated to give explicit/direct feedback on search quality, it becomes necessary to consider implicit feedback that can be collected from search engine logs. Though a number of implicit feedback measures have been proposed in the literature, we have not been able to identify studies that aggregate those feedbacks in a meaningful way to get a final ranking of documents. In this thesis, we first evaluate two implicit feedback measures namely 1) click sequence and 2) time spent on the document for their content uniqueness. We develop a mathematical programming model to collate the feedbacks collected from different sessions into a single ranking of documents. We use Kendall's τ rank correlation to determine the uniqueness of the information content present in the individual feedbacks. The experimental evaluation on top 30 select queries from an actual search log data confirms that these two measures are not in perfect agreement and hence, incremental information can potentially be derived from them. Next, we study the feedback fusion problem in which the user feedbacks from various sessions need to be combined meaningfully. Preference aggregation is a classical problem in economics and we study a variation of it where the rankers, i.e., the feedbacks, possess different expertise. We extend the generalized Mallows' model to model the feedback rankings given in user sessions. We propose a single stage and two stage aggregation framework to combine different feedbacks into one final ranking by taking their respective expertise into consideration. We show that the complexity of the parameter estimation problem is exponential in number of documents and queries. We develop two scalable heuristics namely, 1) a greedy algorithm, and 2) a weight based heuristic, that can closely approximate the solution. We also establish the goodness of fit of the model by testing it on actual log data through log-likelihood ratio test. As the independent evaluation of documents is not available, we conduct experiments on synthetic datasets devised appropriately to examine the various merits of the heuristics. The experimental results confirm the possibility of expertise oriented aggregation of feedbacks by producing orderings better than both the best ranker as well as equi-weight aggregator. Motivated with this result, we extend the aggregation framework to hold infinite rankings for the meta-search applications. The aggregation results on synthetic datasets are found to be ensuring the extension fruitful and scalable. Deciphering Search Query Intentions: The search engine often retrieves a huge list of documents based on their relevance scores for a given query. Such a presentation strategy may work if the submitted query is very specific, homogeneous and unambiguous. But many a times it so happen that the queries posed to the search engine are too short to be specific and hence ambiguous to identify clearly the exact information need, (eg. "jaguar"). These ambiguous and heterogeneous queries invite results from diverse topics. In such cases, the users may have to sift through the entire list to find their needed information and that could be a difficult task. Such a task can be simplified by organizing the search results under meaningful subtopics, which would help the users to directly move on to their topic of interest and ignore the rest. We develop a method to determine the various possible intentions of a given short generic and ambiguous query using information from the click-through data. We propose a two stage clustering framework to co-cluster the queries and documents into intentions that can readily be presented whenever it is demanded. For this problem, we adapt the spectral bipartite partitioning by extending it to automatically determine the number of clusters hidden in the log data. The algorithm has been tested on selected ambiguous queries and the results demonstrate the ability of the algorithm in distinguishing among the user intentions.

Submitted by Priscilla Araujo (priscilla@ibict.br) on 2016-10-05T17:54:18Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Rafaela Giordano - Doutorado - 2016.pdf: 12845440 bytes, checksum: 310d041706923fd4428d221162a2cbac (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-05T17:54:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Rafaela Giordano - Doutorado - 2016.pdf: 12845440 bytes, checksum: 310d041706923fd4428d221162a2cbac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-06-20 / Hemerotecas digitais foram criadas pelas Bibliotecas Nacionais nos últimos 15 anos a partir da digitalização de jornais e revistas antigos. A iniciativa propicia a preservação dos acervos e o acesso facilitado à coleção, via “Web”, a qualquer hora e de qualquer lugar. A informação, objeto de estudo da Ciência da Informação e matéria-prima do Jornalismo, fica mais acessível à medida que mais e mais publicações periódicas são digitalizadas por diferentes Bibliotecas Nacionais. Neste estudo, buscou-se analisar as características de hemerotecas digitais criadas por Bibliotecas Nacionais, apresentando assim o estado da arte do desenvolvimento dessas coleções. A partir das questões de pós-graduandos da área de História da Saúde foram realizadas buscas na Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira da Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, que permitiram avaliar a hemeroteca como fonte de informação científica. A oferta on-line de coleções de jornais e revistas pelas Bibliotecas Nacionais facilitou e solidificou o uso de notícias como matéria-prima em investigações científicas, seja como elemento-base da pesquisa, como um complemento ou para gerar insights. A partir do exame de treze hemerotecas digitais, observou-se ainda que cada uma adota critérios próprios de seleção do material a ser digitalizado e de difusão dessa informação, mas a representação tem como base tradicionais fundamentos da Organização do Conhecimento. A grande inovação tem sido a adoção do uso de reconhecimento óptico de caracteres (OCR), que permite aos usuários buscar e recuperar informações nos conteúdos das publicações. / Digital newspaper libraries have been created by National Libraries for the past 15 years from the digitization of old newspapers and magazines. The initiative promotes the preservation of collections and the access through the “Web” anytime from anywhere. Information, the object of study of Information Science and the main element of Journalism, becomes more accessible as more and more journals are scanned by different National Libraries. This study aimed to analyze the features of digital newspaper libraries created by National Libraries, presenting the state of the art of these collections. From the research themes of graduate students of Health History searches were carried out in the Brazilian Digital Newspaper Library of Brazilian National Library, which made possible to evaluate the newspaper library as a source of scientific information. The offer of online newspapers and magazines by National Libraries facilitated the use of news as an important element in scientific research, or as the base of a research, or still as an insight. From the examination of thirteen digital national newspaper libraries, it was observed that each one adopts its own criteria for selection of material to be scanned and to disseminate, but the information representation has traditional foundations in Knowledge Organization. The major innovation detected was the adoption of optical character recognition (OCR), which allows users to search and retrieve information in the publications content.

This exploratory, mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between information literacy and critical thinking. The research question guiding the first portion of the study was: How do information literacy and critical thinking relate in undergraduate students conducting academic research? Using two standardized assessments, the study assessed the information literacy and critical thinking skills of a small population of college students from a private, university in Texas. The correlational analysis of the scores from the two assessments showed a statistically significant, positive, moderate correlation. The study also explored the likelihood of gender differences in cognitive processing using information literacy and critical think skills assessments. The independent samples t-tests for both assessments demonstrated no statistically significant differences between female and male participants. Finally, a qualitative component comprised of a questionnaire provided context to the assessment scores through items requesting information on participant source selection priorities via the three middle stages of Kuhlthau's information search process model as well as their criteria for selecting sources of information. Though only a small number of the participants completed the questionnaire, the responses highlighted areas of interest for future research.

The purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine information search behaviour of a group of Library and Information Science students in the cultural heritage digital collection cross search service DigitaltMuseum and an evaluation of the cross-search service search functionalities’ usability for the end-user. The study aims in understanding the user search behaviour to let the designers of cultural heritage digital collections websites improve the search tools so that the design matches the real needs of the users. After doing simulated search tasks the informants answered several questions about the chosen search strategies and preferable search functionalities. Quantitative analysis shows that simple search and free keywords are the most preferable search methods, however it is not clear why. On one hand it is observed that the users prefer google-like searching, on the other, discussion on the DigitaltMuseum search functionalities shows lack of use of Knowledge Organisation System of any kind which makes the advanced search tool insufficient.

Konsumenters beteende har förändrats och i dag söker kunder inte efter produktrelaterad information enbart i den fysiska butiken inför att de ska genomföra ett komplext köp. Teknisk utveckling och butiker online har möjliggjort för konsumenten att söka information var och när de vill. Detta har lett till att konsumenter är mer informerade än någonsin. Denna förändring av konsumentbeteende är viktigt att studera eftersom företag måste förstå sina konsumenter för att skapa hållbara affärsmodeller och strategier. Därför syftar vår studie till att skapa en större förståelse för detta förändrade konsumentbeteende och hur det påverkar den fysiska butikens roll när konsumenten förbereder sig inför ett komplext köp. Studien är design är en fallstudie av IKEA:s köksavdelning. Vår intention var att förstå viktiga aspekter av konsumentens förberedelse, informationssökning och beteende inför ett komplext köp. För att få en större förståelse för om den fysiska butikens roll har förändrats användes en mixad metod. Detta studerades genom observationer, enkäter och intervjuer. Genom att använda eye-tracking utrustning under observationerna kunde vi studera respondenternas beteende mer djupgående än vad tidigare studier gjort. Vilket resulterade i att studiens slutsats är att den fysiska butiken fortfarande har en viktig roll när konsumenten förbereder sig inför ett komplext köp. Framförallt förser butiken konsumenter med möjligheten att känna på produkten, samt att ge dem ett helhetsintryck av vad de ska köpa. Vår huvudsakliga slutsats blev därför att den fysiska butikens roll inför ett komplext köp är att vara ett komplement till den information som finns tillgänglig online genom att möjliggöra för konsumenten att interagera med produkterna i en verklig butiksmiljö. / Consumer behaviour has changed, today consumers do not solely search for information in the physical store prior to a complex purchase. Technological development and online stores have enabled consumers to search for information whenever and wherever they want. This has led to consumers being more informed than ever. The change and development of consumer behaviour is an important research subject, as companies must understand their consumers in order to create the best business strategies and business models possible. Therefore, is the aim of this thesis to gain a deeper understanding of this changed consumer behaviour and if the physical store might have a different role during consumer preparation prior to a complex purchase.The design used was a case study of IKEA’s kitchen department. Our intention was to understand important aspects of consumer preparation, information search and behaviour prior to a complex purchase. Therefore, was a mixed method strategy was used, which allowed us to understand if the role of the physical store has changed during consumer preparation prior to a complex purchase. This was studied through observations, questionnaire and interviews. Due to the usage of eye-tracking technology during the observation, we could study the respondent’s behaviour more in detail than previous research has done. The conclusion of the study is that the physical store still has an important role when consumers purchase complex products. Foremost, due to consumers’ having a great need to touch and feel the product, and to gain the whole picture of what they intend to purchase. Therefore, was the main conclusion that the role of the physical store prior to a complex purchase is to complement the information available online, by enabling consumers to interact with the products in a real world environment.

Millennials har ett starkt avvikande köpbeteende på börsen jämfört med äldre generationer. De har högre riskbenägenhet och är benägna att ta betydligt större risker vid köp av aktier och fonder. Oväntade kursrörelser och en mer oberäknelig börs blir konsekvenser av Millennials oberäkneliga och nyckfulla beteende. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka Millennials köpbeteende när det kommer till aktier och fonder med fokus på deras risktagande. Studien hade en kvalitativ och deduktiv ansats och ett deskriptivt forskningssyfte. Data samlades in genom fallstudier och semistrukturerade intervjuer på ett selektivt urval av Millennials där frågor baserat på portföljsammansättning, informationsinhämtning, urvalskriterier och riskbenägenhet besvarades. Studiens resultat visade att Millennials sparar på lång sikt, gärna i framtidsbranscher inom teknologi eller medicin. Millennials är vinstsökande och högre risk med potentiellt bättre avkastning föredras över att investera med lägre risk och potentiellt lägre avkastning. Teknologiska framsteg i from av internet och nätmäklare är verktyg Millennials använde sig av vid köp av aktier och fonder. Studien bidrar med kvalitativa data och en djupare förståelse om Millennials och hur samspelet mellan informationsinhämtning, urvalskriterier och risk påverkar Millennials portföljsammansättning. Millennials använder sig av peer reviews och word-of-mouth i stor utsträckning vid köp av aktier men har samtidigt en hög grad av källkritik.

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本研究旨在了解不同類型的資訊搜尋對購買後的心理狀態的影響。首先，我們探討消費者的產品知識如何影響他們的搜尋量，包括線下購買前搜尋、線上購買前搜尋和持續性搜尋，再來探討這些搜尋行為如何影響消費者的購買後認知失調。本研究共收集了542份有效問卷，我們使用PLS結構方程模型來驗證研究模型。研究結果顯示，消費者產品知識對線下購買前搜尋、線上購買前搜尋和持續性搜尋有正向影響，對購買後認知失調有負向影響。在三種類型的搜尋中，只有線上購買前搜尋對購買後認知失調有負向影響。購買後搜尋對購買後失認知調亦有負向影響。對消費者搜尋行為以及消費者搜尋後心理狀態感興趣的研究者們，期望本研究的發現能為他們未來的研究帶來啟發與幫助。 / This study aimed to understand how different types of information search influences consumers’ post-purchase mental state. First we investigated how consumers’ product knowledge influence their amount of information search, including offline pre-purchase search, online pre-purchase search, and ongoing search. Then we investigate how these searching behaviours influence consumers’ post-purchase dissonance. Total of 542 valid online questionnaires were collected and PLS structural equation model was used to verify our research model. The result showed that consumer product knowledge had positive influence on offline pre-purchase search, online pre-purchase search, ongoing search, and had negative influence toward post-purchase dissonance. Among three types of information search, only online pre-purchase search had negative influence on post-purchase dissonance. Post-purchase search also had negative influence on post-purchase dissonance. For those who are interesting in consumers’ searching behaviours and post-search state of mind, these findings could be referenced in their future research.

Title: How does the buying decision process really function within e-commerce? - A qualitative study of consumer behavior when they consume on Internet. Institution: School of Economics, Linnaeus University, Växjö. Course code: 2FE16E. <img src="file:///page3image2784" />Authors: Sara Hjärne, Mathilda Perem, Ewelina Wallin. Tutor: Dan Halvarsson. Examiner: Åsa Devine. Key words: Buying decision process, purchase decision process need recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase decision, postpurchase behavior, consumer decision making, E-commerce, E- commerce channels, online shopping, online purchase, e-retail, internet shopping, electronic shopping, consumer behavior, online appereal shopping, social media, decision making, online retailing, website design, customer satisfaction, webshopping, perceived risk, convinience, price, online consumption behavior. Background: Buying decision process is a model that marketers use to get a better understanding of their customers and their behavior when purchasing a product. This process consists of five different steps; need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and evaluation. Buying decision process has for a long time been an accepted model but scientists argue that the introduction of Internet as a channel for consumption has changed this process. The Internet has also led to a change of power in which customers today have greater influence, which greatly affects the buying decision process in e-commerce Purpose: The purpose is to explore how consumers perceive their behavior when they consume through e-commerce. Research questions:How do consumers perceive the buying decision process they experience when they consume through e-commerce?How do consumers perceive different factors that are important to them when they consume through e-commerce? Methodology: Qualitative study, cross-sectional design, semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: This thesis shows that the traditional model of the buying decision process is not consistent with consumers' perception of how they are undergoing the process when applied to an e-commerce context. This process is influenced by different factors, which is influence, convenience, webpage's atmosphere, risk, price, supply, consumption occasions, expectations, delivery and return. / Titel: Hur fungerar egentligen köpbeslutsprocessen inom e-handel?- En kvalitativ studie om konsumenternas beteende vid konsumtion på Internet. Institution: Ekonomihögskolan, Linnéuniversitetet, Växjö. Kurskod: 2FE16E. Författare: Sara Hjärne, Mathilda Perem, Ewelina Wallin.<img src="file:///page5image4008" /> Handledare: Dan Halvarsson. Examinator: Åsa Devine. Nyckelord: Buying decision process, purchase decision process need recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase decision, postpurchase behavior, consumer decision making, E-commerce, E- commerce channels, online shopping, online purchase, e-retail, internet shopping, electronic shopping, consumer behavior, online appereal shopping, social media, decision making, online retailing, website design, customer satisfaction, webshopping, perceived risk, convinience, price, online consumption behavior. Bakgrund: Köpbeslutsprocessen är en modell som marknadsförare använder för att få en bättre förståelse för sina kunder och deras beteende vid köp av en produkt. Denna process består av fem olika steg; behov, informationssökning, värdering av alternativ, köpbeslut och utvärdering. Köpbeslutsprocessen har länge varit en accepterad modell men forskare menar att introduktionen av Internet som en kanal för konsumtion har även förändrat denna process. Internet har även lett till ett maktskifte där kunderna idag har större inflytande, vilket i hög grad påverkar köpbeslutsprocessen inom e-handel Syfte: Syftet är att utforska hur konsumenterna uppfattar sitt beteende när de konsumerar genom e-handel. Forskningsfrågor: Hur uppfattar konsumenter den köpbeslutsprocess de går igenom när de konsumerar genom e-handel?Hur uppfattar konsumenterna olika faktorer som är betydelsefulla för dem när de konsumerar genom e-handel? Metod: Kvalitativ studie, Tvärsnittsdesign, Semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Studien visar att den traditionella modellen för köpbeslutsprocessen inte stämmer överens med konsumenternas uppfattning om hur de genomgår processen i en e-handel kontext. Denna process påverkas av faktorerna inflytande, bekvämlighet, webbsidans atmosfär, risk, pris, utbud, konsumtionstillfällen, förväntningar, leverans och retur.

近年來，在世界各地金融公司所謂的「指數股票型基金」已經成為主流投資標的。指數股票型基金讓投資人能夠將其資金直接投資於國外股市，同時避免匯率問題。目前，台灣投資人藉由所謂的中國指數股票型基金來直接投資中國股市。 身為中國指數股票型基金的先驅者，台灣匯豐中華證券投資信託股份有限公司於2009年夏天創造了第一恆生跨境指數股票型基金。就像其他服務業，匯豐中華必須向投資人推銷該指數股票型基金以及其他金融產品。有鑑於行銷對於資產管理公司的成敗扮演著很重要角色，因此本研究以策略行銷分析為主要研究基礎。並且，藉由公司訪談和邱志聖（2006)的四個成本分析架構(4C Analysis)，來探討台灣匯豐中華證券投資信託股份有限公司在台灣的行銷活動。所謂的4C分析包含外顯單外效益成本、資訊搜尋成本、道德危機成本及專屬陷入成本。本研究為台灣匯豐中華提供服務、媒體廣告、品牌形象及行銷策略的改善之道。 關鍵字：策略行銷、四個成本分斯、外顯單外效益成本、資訊搜尋成本、道德危機成本及專屬陷入成本、指數股票型基金 / Since the early 2000's, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have become a mainstream investment product in the portfolios of financial companies across the world. In recent years, ETFs have been created to allow investors to allocate their capital in the stock market of other countries while at the same time avoiding the currency exchange problem. Now, Taiwanese people can invest in the China stock market indexes via China ETFs. A pioneer in China ETFs, HSBC Global Asset Management Taiwan created the first Heng Seng cross border ETFs in the summer of 2009. As with any service-oriented business, HSBC Taiwan must advertise and promote these new investment products. In light of the fact that marketing plays a large role in the success of asset management companies, hence this thesis adopts strategic marketing analysis as the backbone of the research process. Utilizing professional interviews and Chiu's (2006) four cost (4C) analysis, this thesis examines HSBC Global Asset Management Taiwan's marketing activities via a constructively critical lens. These four costs include external unit costs, information search costs, moral hazard costs and firm-specific costs. This thesis focuses on providing solutions for enhanced customer service, media advertising, brand image as well as marketing strategies for HSBC Taiwan. Key Words: strategic marketing, four cost structure, information search costs, moral hazard costs, firm-specific costs, exchange-traded funds