Comparison between Google and EBSCOHost

Based on the queries that were run on both Google and EBSCOHost the following tables illustrate the key differences. The first table highlights the results returned based on the queries.

 

Type of queries	No of queries run	Google	EBSCOHost
Power Search only	3	Returns a large number of results even after applying filters	Able to return a smaller number of results
Power Search with Stem	3	Returns a large number of results even after applying filters	Able to return a smaller number of results
Power Search with Phrasing	3	The choice of keywords used in the phrasing impacts the results returned	Not able to conclude anything no results found
Power Search with Phrasing and Stem	3	Returns a smaller number of results	Not able to conclude anything no results found

 

The second table discusses the features available between Google and EBSCOHost and their effectiveness.

Features	Google	EBSCOHost
Boolean operators	Helpful to refine the search	Very helpful to refine the search
Filters	Filters are helpful to narrow the results	Filters are helpful to narrow the results
Document types	Helpful to refine the search	Very useful to refine the search
Response time	Very fast on all queries	Very fast on all queries

In conclusion, EBSCOHost is slightly better in its effectiveness because it returns a smaller pool of results when compared to Google. However, for the range of queries Google is more effective as it can produce results with a combination of stem and phrasing while EBSCOHost doesn’t work very well when the queries are complex.

[Google & EBSCOHost] Searching by Keyword Query using Power Search

For this research blog post, we would be focusing on Power Search for both Google and EBSCOHost.  The keyword used would be:  Personal AND (Privacy OR Confidentiality) AND (Sectors OR Industry) AND (Digital Age OR New Media Age).

The following figures show the search results returned by Google.

Figure 1 – Initial search results from Google

To create a more detailed search results, we will be using filters to narrow down the search.

Figure 2 – Filters used for case study (Using pdf format)

Figure 3 – Search results after filters are applied

As shown from Figure 1 and 3, the total results has been narrowed down from 59, 800, 000 to 482, 000 results.

The following figures show the search results returned by EBSCOHost.

Figure 4 – Initial search results from EBSCOHost

Figure 5 – Filters used for EBSCOHost (Using Source Type)

To focus on the education sector, we select on the academic journal.

Figure 6 – Search results after filters are applied for EBSCOHost