The Relative Effectiveness of Text and Images in Image Search Result Listings

by Vidas, Alexandra J.

This study was conducted to determine the best type of image surrogate to use within search result sets: Text, Image Preview, or Text + Image Preview. Users’ performance and satisfaction with the three different image surrogates within search result sets were evaluated. Data was collected from 28 participants via a web-based system of questionnaires and logs of their interactions with result set presentations.

Of the three image surrogate types, Image Preview and Text + Image Preview surrogates consistently outperformed Text surrogates on measures of the time required to make relevance judgments, the quality of those relevance judgments, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. While relevance judgment scoring with Image Preview and Text + Image Preview surrogates was identical, answers to the post-session questionnaire indicated that users may prefer the Text + Image Preview surrogate, as it was “liked best overall” by more people.