Tuesday, March 11, 2014

An Ancestry.com Search Quirk, and Slider Numbers

I wrote about the Ancestry.com Sliders in My Ancestry.com Sliders Have Appeared - My First Look at Using Them yesterday, and have spent some more time "playing" with them.

I've found at least one quirk so far, and want to show it so that readers are not surprised when they encounter it.  Yesterday, I started my search using "Not Exact" search terms.  Today, I'm going to start with "Match all terms exactly."

Study 1:

On the "Search" tab with the "Advanced Form," I used my great-grandfather Henry Austin Carringer (1853-1946) as the target person. This is usually how I start most of my searches.  The search field entries are:

*  "Match all terms exactly" box checked
*  First name:  "hen" [using the wild card to catch spelling variations]
*  Last name:  "car*ger" [using the wild card to catch spelling variations]
*  Event:  "Birth" selected from "Event" dropdown menu
*  Birth Year:  "1853" and "+/- 2 years" [selected from drop down menu]
*  Birth Location:  "Pennsylvania, USA" [selected from dropdown menu]

Here is the search form:

Here are the Results of my search:





Even though I requested an exact search for the four search fields, only the Birth Location slider is shown in the "Exact" position.  The First name and Last name sliders are shown in the "Exact, sounds like, and similar" position.  The Birth year slider is in the "+/- 2 years" position, which is correct.

Why aren't the Given Name and Last Name sliders in the "Exact" position?  Perhaps it's because I used a wild card in both of them?  

So I went back and put the full names in the search fields, with the same Birth year and location information.  Here are the results:



Even though I specifically said I wanted only "Exact" matches when I used the full Given Name and Last Name, the two name sliders are shown in the "Exact, Sounds Like, and Similar" position. 

My question is: "If I ask for Exact matches, why don't I receive only exact matches?"  

Another question:  "Is this a designed "feature" - to give the users more than they want to have in their search results?"  Or is it a design flaw?  Does Ancestry think that users don't know how to use the name settings?  I know that those name settings are not widely known by audiences in my presentations on using Ancestry.com.  

Study 2:

Study 2-A:

I wondered how many matches would be returned if I put the two Name sliders for the full name of Henry Carringer in different positions, while keeping the Birth date and location sliders in the same position as above.  Here are my results:

1)  With the Last Name in the "Not Exact" position:

*  Given Name in "Not Exact" position:  52
*  Given Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  22
*  Given Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact" position:   16

2)  With the Last Name in the "Exact, Similar, Sounds Like, and Initials" position:

*  Given Name in "Not Exact" position:  438
*  Given Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  28
*  Given Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  17
*  Given Name in "Exact and similar" position:  17
*  Given Name in "Exact" position:   17

3)  With the Last Name in the "Exact, Sounds like, and Similar" position:

*  Given Name in "Not Exact" position:  438
*  Given Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  28
*  Given Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  17
*  Given Name in "Exact and similar" position:  17
*  Given Name in "Exact" position:   17

4)  With the Last Name in the "Exact and Similar" position:

*  Given Name in "Not Exact" position:  52
*  Given Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  22
*  Given Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact" position:   16

5)  With the Last Name in the "Exact" position:

*  Given Name in "Not Exact" position:  48
*  Given Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  21
*  Given Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Given Name in "Exact" position:   16

Isn't that interesting?  For this example, the "Not Exact," the broadest, slider position gives the same results as the "Exact and Similar" slider position.  

Study 2-B:  

What about keeping the Given name in the same position and varying the Last Name?  Here are the results:

1)  With the Given Name in the "Not Exact" position:

*  Last Name in "Not Exact" position:  52
*  Last Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  438
*  Last Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  438
*  Last Name in "Exact and similar" position:  52
*  Last Name in "Exact" position:   48

2)  With the Given Name in the "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:

*  Last Name in "Not Exact" position:  22
*  Last Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  28
*  Last Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  28
*  Last Name in "Exact and similar" position:  22
*  Last Name in "Exact" position:   21

3)  With the Given Name in the "Exact, Sounds Like, and Similar" position:

*  Last Name in "Not Exact" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact" position:   16

4)  With the Given Name in the "Exact and Similar" position:

*  Last Name in "Not Exact" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact" position:   16

5)  With the Given Name in the "Exact" position:

*  Last Name in "Not Exact" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, and Initials" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact, Sounds like and similar" position:  17
*  Last Name in "Exact and similar" position:  16
*  Last Name in "Exact" position:   16

For this example, it didn't make any difference where the given name was set for the last three positions.  That probably reflects the small number of persons that meet the other criteria for the Last name, the birth year and the Birth location.  

I have a problem with the "Not Exact" setting results for both the given Name and the Last Name.  There were only 52 matches - it's like the search did not consider Given names other than Henry or H or last names other than the "Exact" name and its "Sound like" variants.  

I've only done this for one person, who has only 8 records and 8 tree photos in the Ancestry collection.  The 17th match is for a Henry McCormick, which is somehow associated as a similar or sounds like name with Henry Carringer.  

Of the 52 matches for the Given name = "Not Exact" and Last name = "not exact, 8 records are for the Exact person, 8 photos are for the exact person, 5 are for a middle initial H with a Carringer (or sounds like) last name, and 31 first names are different but for a Carringer (or sounds like) last name.  

This second study may show why Ancestry.com doesn't make an "Exact Search" request start out as an "Exact Search" as shown by the slider position in the first study.  It looks like it doesn't make a lot of difference.

I think two of my conclusions here are:

*  Don't use the "Not Exact" Given name setting with the "Not Exact" Last name setting for a broad search.  It does not cast the broadest search for a person.

*  Use the second setting - "Exact, Similar, Sounds like, or Initials" - for the Last Name and the "Not Exact" setting for the "Given Name" in order to cast the broadest search.  Your "best matches" will still be at the top of the results, but you may need to look down the list for the matches where a Given name is a middle initial in a record.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2014/03/an-ancestrycom-search-quirk-and-slider.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver

UPDATED:  16 March, corrected image name errors on the first two images.

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