Answer-Reconstruction Search Density: Measuring the Query and Source Work Compressed by Conversational Answers
Information Retrieval
2026-07-21 v1
Abstract
Conversational systems can collapse a visible sequence of web queries, result inspections, and source comparisons into a single synthesized answer. Existing retrieval metrics evaluate ranking, effort, or factual support, but they do not quantify the minimum conventional search work represented by a completed answer. We define answer-reconstruction search density (\ARSD): the minimum number of distinct query actions required, under a fixed and dated reconstruction policy, to support a target share of atomic retrievable answer units. A parallel page-density measure separates query compression from source compression.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.18904,
title = {Answer-Reconstruction Search Density: Measuring the Query and Source Work Compressed by Conversational Answers},
author = {Benjamin Tannenbaum},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.18904},
year = {2026}
}