Source evaluation of domain experts and novices during Web search.

Nowadays, almost everyone uses the World Wide Web (WWW) to search for information of any kind. In education, students frequently use the WWW for selecting information to accomplish assignments such as writing an essay or preparing a presentation. The evaluation of sources and information is an impor...

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Published in:Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 234 - 252
Main Authors: Brand‐Gruwel, S., Kammerer, Y., Meeuwen, L., Gog, T.
Format: research tables/charts Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Jun2017
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      jtl: Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
      issn: 02664909
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      dt: Jun2017
      vid: 33
      iid: 3
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        122988148
        122988148
        122988148
        10.1111/jcal.12162
        122988148
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      ppct: 18
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        atl: Source evaluation of domain experts and novices during Web search.
      aug:
        au:
          Brand‐Gruwel, S.
          Kammerer, Y.
          Meeuwen, L.
          Gog, T.
        affil: Welten Institute – Research Centre for Learning, Teaching and Technology, Open University of the Netherlands, The Netherlands
      sug:
        subj:
          Information Literacy
          World Wide Web
          Information Seeking Behavior Evaluation
          Human
          Web Search Engines
          Students, College
          Female
          Male
          Adult
          Teachers
          Questionnaires
          Task Performance and Analysis
          Experimental Studies
          P-Value
          Trust
          T-Tests
          Analysis of Variance
          Mann-Whitney U Test
          Netherlands
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Female
          Male
      ab: Nowadays, almost everyone uses the World Wide Web (WWW) to search for information of any kind. In education, students frequently use the WWW for selecting information to accomplish assignments such as writing an essay or preparing a presentation. The evaluation of sources and information is an important sub-skill in this process. But many students have not yet optimally developed this skill. On the basis of verbal reports, eye-tracking data and navigation logs, this study investigated how novices in the domain of psychology evaluate Internet sources as compared to domain experts. In addition, two different verbal reporting techniques, namely thinking aloud and cued retrospective reporting, were compared in order to examine students' evaluation behaviour. Results revealed that domain expertise has an impact on individuals' evaluation behaviour during Web search, such that domain experts showed a more sophisticated use of evaluation criteria to judge the reliability of sources and information and selected more reliable information than domain novices. Furthermore, the different verbal reporting techniques did not lead to different conclusions on criteria use in relation to domain expertise, although in general more utterances concerning evaluation of sources and information were expressed during cued retrospective reporting. Lay Description What is already known about this topic: When searching the Web, students assess the reliability of information and sources in a spontaneous manner., Students tend to use superficial criteria when judging the trustworthiness of web-based information and sources., Little is known about the differences between domain experts and novices in terms of the ways they spontaneously evaluate web-based information and sources., What this paper adds: Domain knowledge influences evaluation behaviour, with greater domain knowledge leading to more reliable selection of sources., A comparison of techniques for measuring evaluation behaviour when searching the Web for information reveals that different techniques, such as thinking aloud and cued retrospective reporting, have different pros and cons whose implications depend on the research questions being addressed., Implications for practice and/or policy: In formal education, more attention should be paid to equipping students with the requisite skills in searching for and evaluating web-based information. Embedded process-oriented instructional designs are needed that foster the appropriate evaluation behaviours.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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