Relevance judgment in epistemic and hedonic information searches

Abstract

Research in information science now regards users' relevance judgment as subjective perception. However, user-centered studies in the extant literature mainly focus on relevance judgment in problem solving contexts in which the situational relevance of a document is the main concern for users. This study investigates users' relevance judgment in non-problem-solving contexts, i.e., when users search information for epistemic value or entertainment. It is posited that informative relevance and affective relevance should be the main concerns for users. Based on H. P. Grice's (1975, 1989) communication theory and Y. Xu and Z. Chen's (2006) framework, this study tests the significance of topicality, novelty, reliability, understandability, and scope to informative relevance and affective relevance in non-problem-solving contexts. This empirical study finds novelty, reliability, and topicality to be key aspects of informative relevance.