Experiment

__ **Search Engine Research Project "Which One Works The Best?"** __ Using what you know about search engines, compare several popular search engines with the goal of trying to determine which one is the best. Before you can actually do any tests, you need to decide on a few things. I suggest that you conduct your test on at least 4 different search engines. Remember, different engines will provide you with different types of results. If one search engine returns 136,000 possible hits, does that make it better or worse than an engine that provides you with 14?
 * **__Part I__** - Which search engines are you going to test? ||
 * __**Part II**__ - What will be your evaluation criteria (how will you determine which one is the best?) ||


 * Therefore you might want to think about quality of results, not necessarily just quantity
 * How many relevant sites are there?
 * Ease of use
 * Gross results - Is that relevant? You tell me?
 * What other criteria might you use to determine the effectiveness of a search engine?

Remember, any time you are doing scientific research, you have to control the variables. One very important variable that you will have to control here is that you use the same searching strategy on each search engine. (Use the same words. You couldn't search for "computers" on one search engine and "the inner complexities of the male mind", and then eliminate the second search engine because it provided no results. ) Would typing "hockey" into six different search engines, and declaring Yahoo! the best because it gave you the most results, be an effective way of determining the best search engine? Not likely. I would suggest that after you establish your search criteria, you choose several keywords to use on each engine. For example, This may well mean that you need to perform 10 different searches. __** A Few Tips and Suggestions **__ If you are familiar with the scientific procedure, this would be an excellent way to organize and present your data. The 6 steps are:
 * **__Part III__** - What words are you going to use to test the search engines? ||
 * __**Part IV**__ - how many trials are you going to do? ||
 * Choose a keyword, and search it on all six engines. Record your results.
 * Choose a second keyword, and search it on all six engines. Record your results.
 * Choose a third keyword, and search it on all six engines. Record your results.
 * evaluate them with the criteria that you have established, and then eliminate one or two of them.
 * Repeat this process with the remaining engines until you have eliminated all but the very best search engine.
 * __**Part V**__ - Conduct your tests. ||
 * 1) Purpose
 * 2) Hypothesis
 * 3) Procedure
 * 4) Observations
 * 5) Data
 * 6) Conclusion
 * Try not to begin with terms or subjects that are too obscure. For example, some search engines have made a very conscious decision not to include MP-3's in their data base. This does not diminish their abilities as search engines. (Unless you are looking for MP-3's.)
 * It may be helpful to you to create a chart that will help you organize your data while you are collecting it. You don't need to submit this information, it is just to organize your data while you conduct your research. For example:
 * Search Engine || ease of use || number of raw results || accurate results || other ||
 * AltaVista ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Yahoo ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Hotbot ||  ||   ||   ||   ||

Write a 1/2 page report or a lab report where you indicate the results of your tests. Please provide in your data, a list of searches that you performed that led you to this conclusion. (I should be able to replicate your results exactly by trying the searches the same way you did.) In your report, you should indicate the manner in which you collected your data, the specific searches that you used, and their results. In your conclusion, please indicate which search engine you deem to be the best, and why. You may be asked to present your results to the class. ** This is a very complex assignment that will require you to think hard, and be very critical. **    This will be a three period assignment.

(I may cut this to two days if you are playing games and not conducting your experiment)
 * Day one: Research each of the search engines and see how they work (play around a bit)
 * Day Two: Conduct your research
 * Day Three: Synthesize your results in a report

You may work with a partner if you like. Let me know if you are with a partner or independent.

**Assessment** / 25
 * Student provides a list of searches that were preformed
 * Student performs enough searches to make a legitimate assessment f the search engines abilities
 * Student comes to a logical conclusion based on their research
 * Student indicates why they have come to this conclusion
 * Copy is clean and free of errors (typos, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes)