Judging Credibility of Source

1. Judging Credibility of Source GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills

2. 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 ? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

3. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

4. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

5. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

6. 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 ? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

7. Evaluation criteria : Author’s background 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 • Example : index card Is the author clearly identified?Is there information on the author's credentials ? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

8. 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)? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

9. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

10. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

11. Evaluation criteria: Purpose GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

12. Evaluation criteria: Purpose GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

13. 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? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

14. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

15. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

16. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

17. 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 GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

18. 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? GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source

19. Evaluation criteria: Example Evaluating credibility of Dr Jones’ claim. GXEX1406 Thinking and Communication Skills – Week 10 Judging Credibility of Source