WorkshopSmart Searching: Search Filters and Expert Topic Searches

Sarah Hayman and Raechel Damarell

8th International Evidence Based Library and Information Practice ConferenceBrisbane, July 2015

Smart Searching• Introduction to search filters: what are they,

where to find them, how to use them• Development process for a search filter• Using the Smart Searching modules• Tips, tricks and tools

Searching Well

Why important?

• Need for evidence• Impact of missing evidence• Volume of information• Complexity of sources

A search filter …• is an experimentally developed and validated search

strategy of known performance effectiveness• is designed for a particular bibliographic database• can be methodology- or subject-based• may also be called a “hedge”• may be sensitive or specific• can be expressed as a URL and embedded in a web

page for quick reliable access to evidence

Sensitivity and precision• Sensitivity (recall) = the proportion of

relevant articles retrieved – 100% sensitivity occurs when all relevant

citations in a dataset are retrieved• Precision = the proportion of relevant

articles retrieved as a proportion of all articles retrieved– 100% precision occurs when all citations

retrieved are relevant

Specificity

• Specificity = the proportion of irrelevant citations not retrieved– 100% specificity occurs when all irrelevant

citations in a dataset are all excluded from the search results

Balancing these metrics• Generally speaking, search filters will

attempt to maximise precision without jeopardising sensitivity

• Systematic review searches aim to maximise sensitivity without jeopardising precision

• Often different versions of same search filter on offer (e.g. Clinical Queries)

Clinical Queries Therapy Search Filter

Filter version Sensitivity Specificity Precision

Therapy (sensitive/broad) 99% 70% 10%

Therapy (specific/narrow) 93% 97% 54%

PubMed Help [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 2005-. PubMed Help. [Updated 2015 Jun 16]. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3827/

Using Search Filters• Nature and purpose of the search filter• Not designed for systematic review searching • Use terms in search filter a starting point for

your own searches• Critically appraise the search filter • Make search filters available to your users as

useful tools for accessing evidence reliably– Embed in webpages/libguides– Autoalerts

Search Filters• CareSearch• Flinders Filters• Some search filters worldwide

– ISSG Search Filters Resource– BMJ Clinical Evidence– Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CA

DTH)– HL WIKI International– McMaster University. Health Information Research Unit– Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network (SIGN)

Example: the Heart Failure Search Filter

As a URL:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((heart+failure[tw]+OR+ventricular+dysfunction,+left[mh:noexp]+OR+cardiomyopathy[tw]+OR+left+ventricular+ejection+fraction[tw])+AND+Medline[sb])+OR+((heart+failure[tw]+OR+left+ventricular+dysfunction[tw]+OR+cardiomyopathy[tw]+OR+left+ventricular+ejection+fraction[tw]+OR+cardiac+resynchronization[tw]+OR+LV+dysfunction[tw]+OR+left+ventricular+systolic+dysfunction[tw]+OR+left+ventricular+diastolic+dysfunction[tw]+OR+cardiac+failure[tw])+NOT+medline[sb])+AND+english[la]

As a PubMed query:

Workshop activity 1

Workshop website at https://sites.google.com/site/eblip8searchingworkshop/home

Smart SearchingExpert Advisory Group (EAG)

Subject expertsGold Standard Set

Sample setTerm identification

Term identificationValidation

Testing

The Smart Searching Modules

https://sites.google.com/site/smartsearchinglogical/home

AcknowledgementsThank you to:

Our colleagues at CareSearch and Flinders Filters (Mikaela Lawrence, Yasmine Shaheem, Jennifer Tieman)

Health Libraries Australia and Medical Director (formerly HCN) for the Health Informatics Innovation Award 2012 that supported the development of Smart Searching

Raechel Damarell and Sarah Hayman, Flinders Universityraechel.damarell@flinders.edu.au

sarah.hayman@flinders.edu.au