  Information retrieval (IR) evaluation measures are cornerstones for
determining the suitability and task performance efficiency of retrieval
systems. Their metric and scale properties enable to compare one system against
another to establish differences or similarities. Based on the representational
theory of measurement, this paper determines these properties by exploiting the
information contained in a retrieval measure itself. It establishes the
intrinsic framework of a retrieval measure, which is the common scenario when
the domain set is not explicitly specified. A method to determine the metric
and scale properties of any retrieval measure is provided, requiring knowledge
of only some of its attained values. The method establishes three main
categories of retrieval measures according to their intrinsic properties. Some
common user-oriented and system-oriented evaluation measures are classified
according to the presented taxonomy.
