Transcript Judging Creadibility of Source

GXEX1406
Thinking and Communication Skills
Judging Credibility of
Source
Evaluating sources of information
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Why evaluate ?
 Information -> knowledge -> power
 Inaccurate &Unreliable information -> powerless
 Information age : tv, radio, newspaper, journals, magazines,
internet, books, videos etc
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68000 book titles published in 1996 *
Growth of internet pages 3 million/year
Over 15000 newspapers published
Over 10000 radio stations
Internet : anyone can publish anything
 How to separate truth from lies
 How to avoid efforts to manipulate our thinking
 How to make informed decision
All information : unreliable until proven otherwise
 How credible is the information/claim/evidence ?
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Evaluating sources of information
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4 qualities to look for when evaluating the
validity & credibility
of information/sources/claims/evidence
Authority
Freedom from bias
Reliability
Currency
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Evaluation criteria
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How credible is the author presenting the
info/claim/evidence?
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Author (organisation/institution/person) Credentials
Expertise
 Is the author in a position to have the relevant
knowledge
 The greater the expertise the greater the credibility
 Level of expertise is determined by
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Reputation
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Related education
position
Experience/formal training
achievements
Honest
Being correct
Can be contacted via address/email/phone
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Evaluation criteria : Author’s background
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How can we find out ?
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Biographical sources
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(Who’s Who series)
Encyclopaedias
Critical reviews. A review will often give information about the
author.
Example : a report on the study of feline reaction to
bearded men
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Evaluation criteria : Author’s background
Who wrote the Web page?
A number of people from different universities.
What are their qualifications?
Qualifications are not provided therefore it cannot be assumed the article is
academic.
Are they an expert in their field?
There is no evidence to prove that the writers are experts in the field of cat
psychology.
Is there a link to the author's home page or curriculum vitae?
No
How can we get the authors credentials ?
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Evaluation criteria : Author’s background
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Example : index card
DATABASE: ReadGuideAbs
Author:Houghton, Richard A.; Wookwell,George M
Title: Global climactic change
Source:Scientific American v. 260 (Apr '89) p. 36-44 il. maps.
Standard No:0036-8733
Date:1989
Record Type:art
Contents:feature article
Is the author clearly identified?
Is there information on the author's credentials ?
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Evaluation criteria
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Freedom from bias
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Opinion/feeling that strongly favours one side over
others – vested interest
Personal/professional/commercial interest in the
presentation of information/claim/evidence
 a company, Special Interest Group, institute, political
party
Are there any factors that interfere with the accuracy of
the judgment of the source ?
Is source likely to be telling a lie or failing to give
full/relevant information or attempting to mislead?
Any reason to doubt truthfulness of source (especially
eyewitness testimony)?
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Evaluation criteria : freedom from bias
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Does the sponsor/publisher have a bias?
If there is a matter of controversy, are both sides
represented ?
If it is bias, is the bias clear to the reader ?
Example :
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Is the nutritionist telling about the benefits of X
using a particular brand without referring to the
others ?
Example : plastic
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Evaluation criteria : freedom from bias
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Purpose
 Inform
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Persuade to do something
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Vote a certain way
Purchase an item
Attend an event
To prove something
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Results of a study
What happened at an event
Explanation of an experiment
Is right/wrong
A behavior is bad/good
A method works/doesn’t work
Audience : professional/ general public/ researcher/
consumer/ student
Publisher/sponsor : government, corporation, university
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Scholarly journals are peer reviewed
URLs with .edu (universities/colleges) ,gov, mil, com
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Evaluation criteria: Purpose
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Evaluation criteria: Purpose
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Evaluation criteria
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Reliability
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Measure of confidence in source/evidence used
Does source have reputation for reliability & accuracy?
Circumstances/context of the source made
Justification offered by the source : primary vs
secondary
Nature of the claim
Is there any evidence from another source that
corroborates the evidence ?
Are the evidence well documented and easily
verifiable?
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Evaluation criteria: Reliability
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Circumstances/context of the source made
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A report in a medical journal about a disease is
more credible than tabloid newspaper like Malay
Mail
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usage statistics for a new drug might be more
reliable coming from a government web site rather
than those offered by its manufacturer
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Example SARStar.htm, CDC
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Evaluation criteria: Reliability
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Justification offered by the source
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Primary/First hand account about a person/
event
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Raw data, Speech,letters,news footage , art, photos,
autobiographies,artifacts, interviews,diaries
SAR example
Secondary/published books or articles in which
the author presents a personal interpretation of a
topic, based on primary sources
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Textbook,encyclopaedias,biographies,reviews
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Evaluation criteria: Reliability
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Nature of the claim
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Likeliness or unlikeness of claim
Observation or inference
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Example
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Coronavirus as the virus that caused the SARS disease
war
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Evaluation criteria: Reliability
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Corroboration from other sources
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extent to which other sources are provided or
referred to make a claim more credible.
use one source, fact, point of view, or interpretation
to test another.
find other information to support and reconfirm (or
to challenge or rebut) information you have found.
numbers or statistics presented with identified
source for them
presence of source documentation as appeared in
the discussion
Example : Oncolink, SAR
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Evaluation criteria: Currency
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How current is the information/evidence
presented ?
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Articles :
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Date of publication
Date of statistical information
Did author rely on the most current information
available at the time the information/claim was
presented ? SAR
Is it about current issues ?
Internet based information
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Is information up to date
Any ‘last updated’/’last modified’ date at the bottom
of the page?
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Evaluation criteria: Example
Evaluating credibility of Dr Jones’ claim.
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