Children’s Categorization and the Design of
Taxonomic Categories in Search Engines
Dania Bilal and Peiling Wang
dania@utk.edu
peilingw@utk.edu
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee
451 Communications Bldg.
Knoxville, TN 37996
A Specific Cognitive View of
the Mind and Categorization

“The structures used to put together our
conceptual systems grow out of bodily
experience and make sense in terms of
it…The core of our conceptual systems is
directly grounded in perception, body
movement, and experience of a physical and
social character” (Lakoff, 1987, p.xiv”).
LIDA 2003, May 25-30
Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Purpose of the Study


Examine children’s cognitive structure of
specific categories.
Map children’s conceptual structure of the
categories to the existing taxonomic
categories in Web search engines.
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Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Research Question I
What conceptual structure do children
generate for specific categories used in
Yahooligans! and KidsClick!?
Sub-questions




Intra-consistency vs. inter-consistency
Depth and breadth of hierarchical structure
Number of concepts included and excluded
Number of concepts misarranged
LIDA 2003, May 25-30
Dubrovnik, Croatia
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Research Question II
How does children’s conceptual structure
for the specific categories map to
Yahooligans! and KidsClick! categories?
Sub-questions




Concept overlap between children’s maps and Yahooligans!
Concept overlap between children’s maps and KidsClick!
Depth of hierarchies between children’s maps and Yahooligans!
Depth of hierarchies between children’s maps and KidsClick!
LIDA 2003, May 25-30
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Method


Construct-A-Map From Scratch Technique
(Ruiz-Primo, et. al., 2001)
Parental permission was requested for 30
middle school children; 13 were granted.
Two children participated in pilot testing,
resulting in 11 children in the final sample.
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Selection of Categories

Yahooligans!: Science and Nature



Three levels of depth; nine concepts
Concrete concepts
KidsClick!: Family and Health


Two levels of depth; eight concepts
Abstract concepts
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Procedures

Data were collected in May 2001 and took
six sessions



Three sessions - categories from Yahooligans!
Three sessions - categories from KidsClick!
Research team

One researcher, two school librarians, and
one trained graduate student
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Procedures

Yahooligans! and KidsClick! sessions



Session 1: card sorting
Session 2: drawing concept maps
Session 3: individual interviews
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Yahooligans! Conceptual map
Science & Nature
Space
Astronomy
Solar System
Animals
Reptiles & Amphibians
Turtles
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Extinct Animals
Dinosaurs
12
KidsClick! Conceptual map
Health & Family
Medicine
Hospitals
Disease
s
Family Life
Disabilities
Exercise
Adoption
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Results
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Intra- & Inter-consistency
Engine
Intra-consistency
Maps 1 & 2
Percentage
(%)
(n=11)
Inter-consistency
Map 2
Percentage
(%)
(n=11)
Yahooligans!
X
45
X
56
KidsClick!
X
64
X
27
N/A
N/A
X
18
Y&K
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Characteristics of Children’s
Maps vs. those of Engines
Children’s concept
maps
Concepts
Yahooligans!
Mean value
(n=11)
Yahooligans!
Concept map
characteristics
Concepts
KidsClick!
Mean value
(n=11
KidsClick!
Concept map
characteristics
Highest depth
3.91
4
4.18
3
Lowest depth
3.27
4
2.91
2
Breadth, level 1
1.18
1
1.09
1
Breadth, level 2
2.36
2
2.18
4
Terms included
8.9
9
8.45
8
Terms excluded
1.09
1
1.54
2
Terms
misarranged
2.36
N/A
5.54
N/A
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Accuracy of Categorization
Yahooligans!
Category
Children’s
categorization
(%)
KidsClick! Category
Children’s
categorization
(%)
Level 1: Science and
Nature
82
Level 1: Health and
Family
45
Level 2: Space;
Animals
18
Level 2: Exercise/
Disabilities/ Family
Life/ Medicine
0
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Children’s Category Structure
Overlap with Yahooligans!
Categories
Children codes
Number of
children
Percentage
(%)
Science and Nature—Space--Astronomy
2,6,10
3
27
Science and Nature—Animals—Extinct
Animals
1,2,4,6,7,8,9
7
64
Science and Nature—Animals—Reptiles
and Amphibians
1,2,4,6,7,8,9,11
8
73
Animals—Reptiles and Amphibians—
Turtles
1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,11
9
82
Animals—Extinct Animals—Dinosaurs
1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9
8
73
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Children’s Structure of Subcategories vs. Yahooligans!
Sub-categories
Percentage
of children
(%)
Yahooligans! Structure
Astronomy --Space—Solar System
55
Space—Astronomy—Solar System
Space—Solar System/Astronomy
27
Space—Astronomy—Solar System
Astronomy—Solar System/Space
.09
Space—Astronomy—Solar System
Astronomy—Solar System—Space
.09
Space—Astronomy—Solar System
Animals—Reptiles and Amphibians—
Turtles/Animals—Extinct Animals—Dinosaurs*
82
Animals—Reptiles and
Amphibians—Turtles/
Animals—Extinct Animals-Dinosaurs
*Exact arrangement
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Children’s Category Structure
Overlap with KidsClick!
Categories
Children codes
Number of
children
Health and Family—Family Life—
Adoption
1,2,3,6,7,8,9,11
8
73
1,2,3,4,7,10
6
55
10,11
2
18
Health and Family—Exercise
Health and Family—Disabilities
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Percentage
(%)
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Children’s Structure of Subcategories vs. KidsClick!
Sub-categories
Percentage
KidsClick! Configuration
Hospitals—Medicine—Disease
27
Medicine—Hospitals/Disease
Hospitals—Medicine
64
Medicine—Hospitals/Disease
Hospitals—Disease—Medicine
27
Medicine—Hospitals/Disease
Hospitals—Disabilities
45
Health and Family—Disabilities
Medicine—Hospitals
.09
Medicine—Hospitals/Disease
Medicine—Exercise
.09
Medicine—Hospitals/Disease
Medicine—Disabilities
.09
Health and Family—Disabilities
Environment—Adoption*
.09
Family Life—Adoption
Health and Family—Disabilities
18
Health and Family—Disabilities
Health and Family—Exercise
55
Health and Family—Exercise
Family Life—Adoption
82
Family Life—Adoption
Family Life—Disabilities
18
Health and Family—Disabilities
Adoption—Exercise
.09
Family Life—Adoption
Disabilities—Exercise
.09
Health and Family—Disabilities
Disease—Disabilities
.09
Health and Family—Disabilities
*Odd arrangement.
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Conclusions
To be Discussed
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