PEDro searching has improved over time: A comparison of search commands from two six-month periods three years apart

Abstract

Background: In 2014-2015, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) was searched poorly by users; few search commands used sophisticated features and ∼20% contained errors. To improve the quality of PEDro searches, users now receive error messages when using incorrect search commands and have access to video tutorials.

Objectives: To determine whether search quality has improved since error messages and tutorials were implemented; and evaluate the content of PEDro searches.

Methods: Google Analytics was used to access all search commands on PEDro (between 1 August 2017 and 31 January 2018) and extract the following data: total number of search commands; 25 most common simple and advanced search commands; and frequency of search errors (e.g. Boolean operators) or use of sophisticated features (e.g. truncation/wildcards). Two researchers independently coded the subdiscipline (e.g. musculoskeletal, neurology) and PICO elements (Population; Intervention; Comparison; Outcome) from a random sample of 200 simple and 200 advanced search commands. Data were compared to an identical analysis performed in 2014-2015 to determine whether the content or quality of search commands had changed.

Results: There has been a very small increase in the use of truncation/wildcards since 2014-2015 (1.4% increase in simple and 1.9% in advanced search commands; p < 0.001) and small reductions in search errors (Boolean operators: 3.7% reduction in simple and 3.2% in advanced; brackets: 0.9% and 0.4%; non-ASCII characters: 3.1% and 1.6%; p < 0.001 for all analyses). Overall, only 6% of simple and 9% of advanced search commands used sophisticated features, while 16% of simple and 12% of advanced search commands contained errors. The content of PEDro search commands was largely similar to searches from 2014 to 2015.

Conclusion: There has been a small reduction in the number of search commands containing errors, and only a very small increase in the use of sophisticated features. These improvements may be explained by video tutorials on how to optimise searching and warnings that appear when users enter search commands containing errors. However, with 16% of simple and 12% of advanced search commands still containing errors, additional strategies to further improve the quality of searches are needed.

Keywords: Bibliographic databases; Information systems; PEDro; Physiotherapy; Search engines.