Offline Evaluation without Gain
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We propose a simple and flexible framework for offline evaluation based on a weak ordering of results (which we call "partial preferences") that define a set of ideal rankings for a query. These partial preferences can be derived from from side-by-side preference judgments, from graded judgments, from a combination of the two, or through other methods. We then measure the performance of a ranker by computing the maximum similarity between the actual ranking it generates for the query and elements of this ideal result set. We call this measure the "compatibility" of the actual ranking with the ideal result set. We demonstrate that compatibility can replace and extend current offline evaluation measures that depend on fixed relevance grades that must be mapped to gain values, such as NDCG. We examine a specific instance of compatibility based on rank biased overlap (RBO). We experimentally validate compatibility over multiple collections with different types of partial preferences, including very fine-grained preferences and partial preferences focused on the top ranks. As well as providing additional insights and flexibility, compatibility avoids shortcomings of both full preference judgments and traditional graded judgments.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.010 | 0.035 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.005 | 0.007 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.012 | 0.006 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".