EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System)
EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System)
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Date
1986-08
Authors
MAINA, MODU
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Abstract
This study is an attempt to show how inter-indexer
consistency can be measured to see the evolution of consistency
values within an Optical Coincidence System of the Institute
of Agricultural Research Library at Ahmadu Bello University.
This study is not only to evaluate the present level of
performance, but also to find a way of improving the performance
of the system.
The study tried to find answers to the following
questions:-
(a) Is there indexing Consistency in the System over the
period 1974 to 1986?
(b) If there is inconsistency, then identify some of the
factors responsible for the inconsistency.
The hypothesis tested is that: Consistency in the system varies
with the change of indexers over a period.
The study involved examination of the document cards of
the Information Retrieval System in the IAR library. The
indexing terms assigned by two groups of indexers to similar
documents were compared.
The indexing period in the IAR system was divided into
two Periods, P1 (1974 - 1978) and P2 (1979-1986). Pairs of
similar index entries with one entry falling within either
P1, or P2 were sorted out and compared for indexing
Consistency Over the two periods. The cards were selected
in such a way that they covered all the eleven main subjects vi
areas which the IAR collection covered. A total of 130 pairs
pf entries for similar documents were found in the data base.
Out of these, 64. pairs were found to satisfy the condition
set for the final selection, that is each pair has one entry
falling in P1 and the other in P2.
The degree of consistency was determined by totalling
the number of identical terms assigned to the documents at
each indexing, as compared to the total number of terms
assigned to the two documents. Hooper's one-indexer
consistency model was used in measuring inter-indexer
consistency.
The findings showed that indexing consistency in the
system is decreasing with the change of indexers. The
consistency values ranged from 47.5% to 28.68% per indexer
and pair-wise consistency values ranged from as high as
65.4% to as low as 51% per pair.
The study concluded that consistency in the system
varies with the change of indexers over a period. This
measure of inconsistency can partly be due to differences in
subject background and experience of the indexers.
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Keywords
EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System), EVOLUTION OF CONSISTENCY VALUES WITHIN AN OPTICAL COINCIDENCE SYSTEM: (A Case Study of Agricultural System)