Evaluation of DeCS controled vocabulary in Speech, Language Pathology and Audiology from the user’s view: an observation study of information retrieval with a verbal protocol

Abstract

Assessment of the DeCS (Health Sciences Descriptors) indexing language, utilized for the retrieval of information in the LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences) system, aiming at obtaining indicators to outline strategies to improve the language in the field of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. The verbal protocol technique (thinking aloud) was utilized to evaluate this language, having as subjects researchers of the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Department at the Dental School, University of São Paulo-FOB-USP, at Bauru, SP. This technique has been applied in the subjects’ own working environment, being their knowledge on the access to LILACS system as well as the use of DeCS language previously verified. Then, four subjects representing the four forming specialties in the area of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, i. e., Language, Voice, Oral Motricity and Audiology, were selected and observed, with the verbal protocol, in the task of performing information retrieval, in the field of subject descriptor of the search interface of LILACS`database, utilizing the DeCS language. The analysis of the transcriptions for the verbal protocols demonstrated that the methodology employed was effective in enabling the collection, in real time, of the subjects’ statements (users /researchers) on the performance of DeCS language utilized for information retrieval in the LILACS system. The study carried out a reflection on the declarations issued by the four subjects participating in our research and the results obtained from the analysis show that the DeCS language, in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, led the searches to unsatisfactory results as to information retrieval from the following relevant aspects: insufficiency of generic and/or specific terms representative of the Speech- Language Pathology and Audiology area; terms available in the language regarding the terminology found in the scientific literature of the area and adopted by specialists need to be updated; ranking of terms in subject categories not equivalent to their concepts, among others. It is concluded that the improvement of the DeCS indexing language in the field of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology requires the updating of descriptors and corresponding definitions according to the reality of scientific advancement in the area, review of the translation for the Portuguese language, of descriptors existing in the DeCS Vocabulary, and the establishment of hierarchical and nonhierarchical equivalence relations to all descriptors. On the other hand, the survey of terminology in the area of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology utilized by specialists, research societies and scientific literature must represent the specialties of Language, Voice, Oral Motricity and Audiology. It is recommended that the Latin-American and Caribbean Health Science Information Center-BIREME, an institution responsible for the compilation of DeCS Controled Vocabulary, elaborates a specific category for the area of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, representing the literature and the Brazilian scientific community in the area, such as the inclusion of Public Health and Homeopathy, since its terminological representation is not consistent with the needs of users/researchers engaged in information retrieval.