Query expansion techniques for question answering
Name
56820766-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
5.5 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fc65f94c67c57103bca19e1625067d82
Author(s)
Bilotti, Matthew W. (Matthew William), 1981-
Advisor(s)
Boris Katz.
Date Issued
2004
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Query expansion is a technique used to boost performance of a document retrieval engine, such as those commonly found in question answering (QA) systems. Common methods of query expansion for Boolean keyword-based document retrieval engines include inserting query terms, such as alternate inflectional or derivational forms generated from existing query terms, or dropping query terms that are, for example, deemed to be too restrictive. In this thesis, I present a quantitative evaluation against a test; collection of my own design of five query expansion techniques, two term expansion methods and three term-dropping strategies. I present results that show that there exist best-performing query expansion algorithms that can be ex- perimentally optimized for specific tasks. My findings pose questions that suggest interesting avenues for further study of query expansion algorithms.
Description
Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2004.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-109).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Terms of Use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
Persistent DSpace Link
