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Dissertation Information for Sherrilynne Shirley Fuller

NAME:
- Sherrilynne Shirley Fuller

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Southern California (USA) (1984)

ADVISORS:
- None

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- None

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Not_Inspected

Title: SCHEMA THEORY IN THE REPRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF TEXT

Abstract: One of the most pressing issues in perfecting document retrieval methods is the establishment of rationale criteria for deciding how to index stored documents for purposes of later retrieval. Approaches to indexing have tended to focus on the word or sentences level rather than on the structure of the whole document. Linguists and cognitive psychologists suggest that texts have an inherent structure terms a schema which is used by individuals not only to understand texts but also to produce texts. Further, text schemata of different groups of individuals are thought to vary.

The purpose of this study is to test schema theory in the analysis and representation of text, namely published reports of clinical trials. The hypotheses are: (1) A clinical trial schema constructed from the expert opinions of what constitutes a clinical trial is replicated in the published reports of clinical trials, (2) The gross schema structure of trial reports is similar, however, representation of specific schematic elements varies significantly between diseases.

A trial schema consisting of essential trial elements was designed based upon a review of the literature. A random sample of trial reports was selected by a search of the Medline database and stratified by disease category. Trial reports in eleven disease categories were studied: Bacterial and Fungal, Virus, Parasitic, Oncologic, Musculoskeletal, Mouth and Tooth, Respiratory, Nervous System, Eye, Digestive System and Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases.

Results of the schema analysis revealed that trial reports, in general, are reflective of the clinical trial as envisioned by the experts. However, based on chi-square tests, major differences can be demonstrated between disease categories in the representation of specific trial elements. Further, tests of the inter-rater reliability of schema application to trial reports revealed a concurrence of between 74% and 95% for five indexers.

The findings suggest that schema theory may offer a paradigm for indexing which provides a means of capturing both the intra-document, i.e., the holistic structure of the document as well as the inter-document relationships, i.e., data on groups of documents. Further study is indicated.

MPACT Scores for Sherrilynne Shirley Fuller

A = 0
C = 1
A+C = 1
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2009-05-18 10:04:27

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