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Remember, it is important that you should not believe
everything you read.
Moreover, you should be able to reject or accept
information based on the characteristics of the
information and the source from which the informationwas obtained.
Perhaps one of the most important ways of evaluating
information is simply common sense.
If things appear unbelievable, then generally they should
be treated with a pinch of salt. However, there are other, more concrete, criteria that can
be used in evaluating printed or electronic material.
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The following is a list of relevant criteria
!ne criterion is whether the publication is a refereed one.
"rticles in most scholarly journals go through a rigorousprocess of peer evaluation, in which the editor of the
journal sends a manuscript to at least two, but typicallythree, other e#perts in the field.
!nly when all referees agree that the manuscript isworthy of publication will it be published.
$imilar processes are applied to boo%s published by
reputable publishers. &learly, this means that articles in refereed publications
are more li%ely to be acceptable.
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" related criterion is the level of scholarship of thepublication.
This criterion is especially important in evaluatingprinted materials.
!ne can distinguish between scholarly publications andthose intended for a general audience.
&learly, the latter are often easier to understand butmay lac% a more in'depth analysis.
"n important (uestion to as% when evaluating
information according to this criterion is who is thewor%)s intended audience.
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"nother criterion relevant to the acceptance or rejectionof information is the degree of specificity or relevance tothe research being underta%en.
*or e#ample, newspaper articles are generally intendedfor a general audience and may therefore not bespecific enough for one)s purposes.
+hether a boo% or a journal article is relevant can oftenbe determined by carefully e#amining the title of thepublication.
*or a boo%, one can often get more information byreading the preface and the table of contents.
ournal articles often have abstracts, which can be usedto determine the relevance of the article to theresearch project being underta%en.
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" further relevant criterion is the authority of the authorof the publication.
Many publications include biographical notes on theauthor.
"nother relevant piece of information is the affiliationof the author.
"uthors associated with reputable organi-ations e.g.reputable universities/ are usually more authoritative onthe subject.
Relevant (uestions to consider here are Is the author an e#pert, scholar, or practitioner in the field0
Has the author written other relevant publications0
Is the author cited by others writing on the subject0
+hat institution is the author affiliated to0
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"nother important criterion that can be used in judgingwhether to reject or accept a written publication is thee#tent to which the author shows familiarity with theliterature.
&learly, an authoritative publication in the field willcontain references to such publications.
More generally, it is important to determine whether thepublication contains a bibliography.
"lso, does the author display %nowledge of the various
theories and techni(ues in the field0 If the author)s treatment is controversial, is the author
aware of it and does he or she ac%nowledge it0
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The accuracy of the publication is clearly of greatimportance too.
!ne way of determining the accuracy of a publication isto compare it with other publications.
*or e#ample, are the data presented in the publicationcomparable to those in other publications0
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Timeliness of information was previously mentioned butclearly this is e#tremely relevant in the evaluation ofinformation.
*or e#ample, a boo% published in 1234 in the area of&omputer $cience, or one published in 1256 in Medicineare li%ely to contain outdated information.
!n the other hand, publications that appeared early inthe century may be e#tremely relevant for a piece ofhistorical research.
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" final criterion that is worth mentioning is the objectivity of the information.
It is important to note that the fact that a publicationcontains subjective information does not necessarilymean that it needs to be rejected.
+hether to reject it depends on the research topic.
*or e#ample, a research project that sets out to discussand compare different views on some current issues, saythe current telecommunications regulatory framewor%,must rely on subjective publications.
However, a research project that sets out to answer anempirical scientific (uestion should rely primarily onobjective information.
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Here)s a summary of the criteria that should be used toanaly-e information for validity.
Criteria Questions to consider
Bias Does the source of the information favours a particular
point?
Is the source objective or subjective?
Accuracy Is the information correct as presented?
Is it truthful?
Is it without typographical and grammatical errors?
Cultural context Is the information generalized or is it specific to a regioncountry ethnic group etc!?
Completeness Is the information complete "i!e! it does not lac# vital pieces
of information$?
Is it understandable?
Currency of information %ow current is the information?
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Many of the considerations discussed earlier must beapplied to information obtained from the Internet as well.
However, because of the ease with which one can publishinformation on the Internet, the Internet poses a numberof additional challenges.
Here)s a list of some of the additional considerations thatone may wish to ta%e into account when evaluatinginformation from the Internet.
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7arlier we discussed an important criterion, whether thepublication had been refereed.
Information on the Internet is not refereed in the sameway as other publications.
8evertheless, one can gather some information aboutthe publishing body.
*irst, it is important that you be able to interpret howto decode a 9R:.
The 9R: will tell whether the +eb page was part of the
pages hosted by an academic organi-ation, acommercial organi-ation, or hosted by a privateindividual.
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$ome organi-ations only allow their members to publish+eb pages after some form of refereeing by theorgani-ation itself.
If an organi-ation has such a policy, any +eb page willcontain a reference to it.
"lso, many organi-ations appoint so'called +ebmasters.
If one can contact a +ebmaster directly from a page,then the page has probably obtained some sort ofapproval from the organi-ation.
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Currency was another criterion discussed earlier.
"gain, it is usually important to determine the last dateon which the page was updated.
;ood +eb pages tend to contain the name of the author,
together with the copyright sign as well as an indicationof the date on which the page was last updated.
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" final criterion that is useful in determining whether toaccept or reject a piece of information from the Internetis the links to and from the page.
If the page contains lin%s to other pages that onealready has decided to accept as reliable, then theauthor of the page shows a good understanding of theliterature.
In a sense, this is the e(uivalent of a list of referencesof an article in the printed media.
However, possibly even more important are lin%s to thepage from other pages that have already been judged tobe reliable.
"fter all, an authoritative author is unli%ely toundermine his or her authority by including lin%s tounreliable pages.
