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Beth Adams 1 , Clive E Adams 2 1 Minster School, Southwell , UK 2 University of Nottingham, UK

Beth Adams 1 , Clive E Adams 2 1 Minster School, Southwell , UK 2 University of Nottingham, UK. Google searching: a consistency test. Background Google is used across the world as a major source of information. It remains the top search engine by some distance.

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Beth Adams 1 , Clive E Adams 2 1 Minster School, Southwell , UK 2 University of Nottingham, UK

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  1. Beth Adams1,Clive E Adams21Minster School, Southwell, UK2University of Nottingham, UK Google searching: a consistency test • Background • Google is used across the world as a major source of information. • It remains the top search engine by some distance. • It is often used as a source of studies in reviews. • 'To google' wasadded to the Oxford Dictionary (June 2006), and was said to be the most useful word by the American Dialect Society • Aim • To investigate yield of search terms across all Google search engines. • Methods • Definitive list of Google engines downloaded • Phrases chosen for relevance, currency, potential controversy • Searches of each phrase undertaken on same day (7-8th July* ) • Total hits recorded and comparative percentages calculated • * Days after the Andy Murray Wimbledon victory • Choice of phrases • We chose three types of phrases – people, searches for trials, and some random phrases that we thought may have controversial connotations • People – we chose Andy Murray as he had just won Wimbledon , and LeliaDuley because she is a researcher with an unusual name • The simple searches for randomised trials were both general and specific to a sub-speciality Israel considerably more results for " Randomized and Schizophrenia " Data from Google trends Values fairly consistent for " Lelia Duley” Values fairly consistent for " Political Dissident” • Over time • We are also aware results change over time, for example: Lone Values rare Values keep repeating • Results • Although there is an impressive amount of consistency in the results there is also a great deal of regional variation within Google • Conclusions • We are unsure why this variation occurs, perhaps • searches are more popular in certain countries and so there are more results for that search in that region • regional Google sites may update faster than others • information may be differentially filtered (this is obvious in China) • Certainly, Google seems a fickle source of information if a researcher's aim is to identify all randomised controlled trials. 0.1% China (does not use Google) Contact: Clive.adams@nottingham.ac.uk

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