Why does the web site not allow one to use a Boolean OR in searching? Why did ICPSR choose faceted searching over Boolean searching?

Basically, the Boolean OR is incompatible with faceted searching. Here’s an example od the core problem:

Say a user searches on “cat OR dog” because his/her research is on whether cat owners are happier than dog owners. On the search results page s/he then clicks on “United States” to narrow the search to U.S. data.

What the user doesn’t realize is that by clicking on “United States” they have excluded all search results relating to cats because ICPSR has no U.S. data on cats.

This is the real problem. By using a facet, the user has dropped a query term but has no indication of this before or after the click. The same thing can happen with faceting by data format, subject term, etc.

For this reason, ICPSR is not adding a Boolean OR to our study search.

In further support of our website users, please also note that faceted searching is used for all searches conducted on the website (studies, variables, citations). One of the guiding principles in website design is to make sure that all interfaces, in this case searches, follow the same rules. We don’t want users to have to learn different syntax rules on different pages, especially when the searches look identical.

Though Boolean searching is very powerful, it simply does not have the traction of Google searching. Our typical user is a grad student or undergrad who only visits our site once a semester, so we cannot afford to build a search that has much of a learning curve. We need a search that behaves like the searches to which our users are accustomed, and the current crop of grads/undergrads have been using Google since grade school.

We recognize that this can be very frustrating for experienced searchers. From a support perspective, however, it makes more sense to build a simple search for search novices, instead of a sophisticated search for experienced searchers. If the search were more complex, it would generate more support queries for both ICPSR staff and for the Official Representatives.