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Section 1 Objective 12

The document discusses the evaluation of online information sources for reliability, focusing on authenticity, bias, currency, and relevance. It outlines a 'four-way test' to assess the quality of information, where reliable information should pass all four criteria. The importance of using only highly reliable information is emphasized, with clear guidelines on how to determine the overall quality of online sources.

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18 views4 pages

Section 1 Objective 12

The document discusses the evaluation of online information sources for reliability, focusing on authenticity, bias, currency, and relevance. It outlines a 'four-way test' to assess the quality of information, where reliable information should pass all four criteria. The importance of using only highly reliable information is emphasized, with clear guidelines on how to determine the overall quality of online sources.

Uploaded by

Rhanika
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Objective 12: Evaluate the reliability of information obtained from online

sources;
Evaluation of information retrieved electronically for authenticity, currency,
relevance, and bias.

Earlier we discussed sources of data and information. One such place is ‘online’.

By online, we mean Internet-based sources accessed primarily via the World Wide

Web. These online sources may include databases, magazines, newspapers and

news websites such as the BBC, CNN or Al Jazeera. Respected and reviewed

journals, forums, blogs and social media sites are also online sources. Some other

terms for online sources are electronic sources, web sources and Internet

sources.

The quality of data and information available from online sources will vary from

one source to another. This is because the different authors will have differing

motives for publishing the data and information. Additionally, each author may

have taken differing levels of care to ensure that the information being presented

is accurate and unbiased. While there are different ways to judge the overall

quality of information, one generally accepted measure is its reliability.

Reliability is the degree or extent to which the content of the information can be

depended on to be accurate.
Reliability has four characteristics:

Persons who retrieve data and information from any source, but particularly

online sources, should carefully evaluate the information to determine whether it

is reliable. To do this, the user can test the information for authenticity, bias,

currency and relevance.

You should use only highly reliable information. In order to test the overall quality

of the information, you will need to test the quality of each characteristic by

conducting a ‘four-way test’:

1. Is the same data or information available from multiple independent

sources?

2. Is the information presented in an impartial manner?

3. Is the information up to date?

4. Is the information appropriate for the intended purpose?


If the answer to all four questions is yes then the information may be deemed to

have excellent overall quality and may be used with caution. If the information

scores three out of four, the quality is suspect and the information should be used

with extreme caution. A score of one or two out of four is a definite red flag and

the data should not be used.


Reference. Howard Campbell and Alan Wood, Information Technology for CSEC

Examination 3rd Edition, Page 40

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