KXEX2167

Thinking and Communication Skills

Judging Credibility of
Source
Evaluating sources of information

Why evaluate ?

Information -> knowledge -> power

Inaccurate &Unreliable information -> powerless

Information age : tv, radio, newspaper, journals, magazines,
internet, books, videos etc

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

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

How credible is the author presenting the
info/claim/evidence?

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
 Related education
 position
 Experience/formal training
 achievements

Reputation
 Honest
 Being correct

Can be contacted via address/email/phone
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Evaluation criteria : Author’s background

How can we find out ?

Biographical sources

(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

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

Freedom from bias

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

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 :

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

Purpose

Inform
 Results of a study
 What happened at an event
 Explanation of an experiment

Persuade to do something
 Vote a certain way
 Purchase an item
 Attend an event

To prove something
 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
 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

Reliability

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

Circumstances/context of the source made

A report in a medical journal about a disease is

more credible than tabloid newspaper like Malay
Mail

usage statistics for a new drug might be more

reliable coming from a government web site rather
than those offered by its manufacturer

Example SARStar.htm, CDC

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Evaluation criteria: Reliability

Justification offered by the source

Primary/First hand account about a person/
event

 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

 Textbook,encyclopaedias,biographies,reviews

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Evaluation criteria: Reliability

Nature of the claim

- Likeliness or unlikeness of claim
- Observation or inference

- Example
- Coronavirus as the virus that caused the SARS disease
- war

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Evaluation criteria: Reliability

Corroboration from other sources

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

How current is the information/evidence
presented ?

Articles :

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

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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