不靠大模型也能精准定位文档章节,提升问答质量
Three Sides of Retrieval: Factorial Evidence for Document-Side, Query-Side, and Answer-Side Complementarity in RAG
- 用目录视觉结构替代大模型解析,零成本构建章节索引
- 结合答案验证,效果优于传统查询拆解,完整度和有用性提升0.4
- 适用于长文档场景,且参数默认设置已接近最优
RAG系统依赖文本切块,破坏文档结构信息。现有基于标题的检索(Jeong et al., 2025)需对每篇文档多次调用大模型,返回匹配章节内的子片段。我们提出基于目录的页面检索方法,通过视觉格式推断标题,无需大模型调用,将标题嵌入并行索引,加载完整页面段落。在8篇企业文档(5至195页)共1,280种条件下测试发现:(1) 目录作为主效应显著提升答案质量(d = +0.41, p = 0.031),完整度与有用性分别提升+0.40;(2) 结合答案侧验证后,性能优于查询侧分解+验证(d = +0.32, p = 0.036);(3) 仅增加2.9页/查询,却贡献20%引用量;(4) 长文档中增益更大(最长118页时达+1.50),但8文档样本下趋势未达显著;(5) 480条件敏感性分析显示无显著参数影响(所有p > 0.38),表明默认配置已近最优。本工作兼具方法论与实证价值:首次提供三重互补性(文档侧、查询侧、答案侧)的因子证据。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
RAG systems rely on chunking, which destroys structural information in documents. Existing heading-based retrieval (Jeong et al., 2025) requires multiple LLM calls per document and returns sub-chunks within matched sections. We introduce ToC-guided page retrieval, which infers headings from visual formatting without LLM calls, embeds them as a parallel index, and loads full page sections. Across 1,280 conditions on 8 enterprise documents (5 to 195 pages), we find: (1) ToC is a significant main effect on answer quality (d = +0.41, p = 0.031), with the largest gains in completeness (+0.40) and usefulness (+0.40); (2) combined with answer-side verification, it outperforms query-side decomposition + verification (d = +0.32, p = 0.036); (3) ToC contributes 20% of citations despite adding only 2.9 pages per query; (4) gains are directionally larger on longer documents (up to +1.50 on 118 pages), though the trend does not reach significance with 8 documents; and (5) a 480-condition sensitivity analysis finds no significant parameter effects (all p > 0.38), confirming defaults are near-optimal. The contribution is both methodological (a new zero-LLM-cost retrieval algorithm) and empirical: factorial evidence that document-side, query-side, and answer-side enhancements are complementary, a three-way interaction not previously studied.
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