A Theoretical Framework for Risk Analysis of Stochastic Rankers (opens in new tab)

Different from deterministic rankers that seek to maximize relevance at top ranks, stochastic ranking policies instead estimate distributions over permutations, from which rankings are sampled, towards obtaining diversified or fair exposure. Such policies are commonly evaluated in terms of expected effectiveness postreranking. However, the randomness inherent in these policies gives rise to a fundamental but under-explored ex ante question: prio...