Estrategies for Evaluating Information

Teaching & Marketing Electronic Information Literacy Programs Donald A. Barclay Neal-Schuman Publishers ©2003

Strategies for Evaluating Information

Tomado de Teaching and Marketing Electronic Information Programs, 2003 . Doanld A. Barclay


The Basic Strategy for Evaluating Information

Question all information regardless of its source.

Be reasonable–no information can be absolutely perfect.


Currency

Is the information up to date? If it is not, does this matter for your

purpose? Primary-source information may be old but

still valuable.


Example Of Currency Not Being Important

What year did George Washington die? Any of the following sources could provide the correct (or incorrect) information: A book published in 1830. An article printed in 1928. A Web page created yesterday.


Example Of Currency Being Important

• I need information on a start-up company in which I might invest.

• I need to decide on the best therapy for my asthma.

• I need to know how many acres of rainforest remain in the Amazon Basin.

• I need the most recent information on federal expenditures on education.


Currency

If information is online and currency is important, when was the information last updated?

Be aware that date information was created may be different from date it was put in a particular “container.”

Original information: Galen’s writings on medicine.Created circa 160 to 207 AD.

Container 1:Manuscript book writtenin 1150.

Container 2:Printed book published in 1821.

Container 3:Web page created in 2002.


Authority

Arguably the most important thing to consider when evaluating information.

Authority refers to who created the information and is responsible for its credibility.


Authority

Personal Author An individual of group of individuals acting

as an author. Corporate Author

A business, agency, organization, or other body acting as an author.


Authority

Who is the author? Author should be clearly identified.

Is the author an authority? Does the author have the education,

experience, or combination of the two to write authoritatively about the topic in question?


Authority

Is the author affiliated with a reputable institution (university, agency, business, etc.)?

Authors sometimes exaggerate, lie, or hedge about their qualifications. What does it mean when an author claims to

be “a leading researcher” or “a noted authority”?

Does a Ph.D. in music qualify an author as an expert on water pollution?


Publisher

The publisher is the person or group who makes public a piece of information.

Many types of publishers: Commercial. Academic. Government agency. Association.


Publisher

As a rule, the more reputable the publisher, the more reliable the information.

Self-published information is notoriously unreliable. Most Web pages are self-published.


Funding

Follow the money. Who put up the money to make the

information public? Is there a conflict of interest?

Tobacco company pays for “research” into the effects of smoking on health.


Print Equivalent?

Is a piece of electronic information the exact equivalent of printed information? If so, then both are equally credible.

Are there discrepancies—intentional or accidental—between “identical” electronic and print versions?


Purpose

All information has some purpose, such as: Direct sales. Advertising. Public relations. Education. Entertainment. Advocating social, religious, or political agendas. Authorial ego gratification. Career advancement (including earning tenure).


Purpose

Information may have more than one purpose. Example: A Web site could be both

educational and entertaining. Does the purpose of the information

reveal any conflicts of interest?


Conflict of Interest?

Valerie’s Vitamin Villa offers many articles extolling the benefits of taking vitamins.

Valerie’s Vitamin Villa also sells vitamins online.

Because of this conflict of interest, information from articles found on Valerie’s Vitamin Villa should undergo extra scrutiny before it is accepted as credible.


Intended Audience

The intended audience can tell you if the information is appropriate for your purpose.

Example: Sources of information on nutrition might be aimed at one of the following audiences: Children. General public. Owners of health-food stores. Scholarly researchers.


Accuracy

Web standards for spelling and grammar are looser than for print.

However, information riddled with errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or fact should raise questions. If source cannot correctly spell Prozac, can

you trust it to provide accurate dosage information?


Independent Confirmation

Does author accurately cite the specific sources used?

Can the same or similar information be verified by other sources? Are these sources truly independent of each

other? If the same bad information appears in

100 sources, that does not make it good information.


Coverage

In what depth does the source cover its topic?

Does it include extraneous information? Does it exclude information that should

be included?


Final Thoughts on Evaluating Information

1. Maintain a healthy skepticism about all information.

2. Question the purpose behind every piece of information.

3. Don’t be fooled by cool. Great graphics, polished presentation, and glib language do not in themselves guarantee that the information being presented is good information.

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Estrategies for Evaluating Information