Information used and perceived usefulness in evaluating web source code search results
Rosalva E. Gallardo-Valencia, Susan Elliott Sim · 2011
Software developers frequently search for source code on the Web to solve problems. Their ability to correctly evaluate the matches returned by a source code search engine is key to the success of the search, and in turn the project. We conducted a laboratory experiment to gain understanding on the kinds of information used and their usefulness during the evaluation process. We found that the most used information was not perceived as the most useful information. We also identified three patterns for relationships among the frequency of information use, the likelihood of selecting the best match, and the time to complete a task.