Two axioms for evaluation measures in information retrieval
Peter Bollmann · 1984
In this paper evaluation measures for information retrieval system outputs are investigated from a measurement theoretic point of view. Two axioms are introduced: the axiom of monoto-nicity and the Archimedian axiom. It is shown that the measures fullfilling these axioms are exactly the measures equivalent to some measure of the form αa + δd where a is the number of relevant retrieved documents and d is the number of nonrelevant not retrieved documents. Some consequences for retrieval tests are discussed.