Wildcards in Boolean Searching

[Lorna O Callaghan]

Hi everyone, I have a question about wildcard searching in Boolean strings.

I work with recruiters using a system called Jobscience and wildcards is something that has caused a bit of an issue lately.

Do people notice huge differences in search results when using the wildcard? For example searching for Pharma* AND Tech* might  return more or less (and in fact different) results than (Pharmaceuticals AND Pharmaceutical) AND (Technician OR Technologist). It's a curious one where the logic behind it makes sense but I just wonder does anyone have any best practice suggestions?

I recommend they use wildcards as it returns greater results almost all the time and to whittle down from there unless there is a need for specifics - thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Lorna