Vol. 38 No. 2 (2023)
Research Articles

Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty: Students’ Assessment of Credibility in Online Materials

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Ralf St Clair
University of Victoria
Bio
Maryam Shirdel Pour
University of Victoria, Canada
Bio
James Nahachewsky
University of Victoria, Canada
Bio
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55667/10.55667/ijede.2023.v38.i2.1289

Published 2023-12-21

How to Cite

St Clair, R., Shirdel Pour, M., & Nahachewsky, J. (2023). Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty: Students’ Assessment of Credibility in Online Materials. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education Revue Internationale Du E-Learning Et La Formation à Distance, 38(2). https://doi.org/10.55667/10.55667/ijede.2023.v38.i2.1289
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Abstract

This study discusses the findings of a survey designed to capture students’ allocations of credibility to online materials resembling social media posts. The survey respondents were 1,019 undergraduate students at a medium-sized Canadian university. The students came from a range of programs and years of study in those programs. The survey instrument presented varying stimuli to students to see how their scores varied, and then asked students to explain their scoring. A number of significant dynamics emerged, such as the students’ tendency to give lower credibility scores to poorly presented information, even if the information was factual, and to explain information by referring to previous knowledge. These dynamics varied little by area or year of study, which suggests that presentation should be recognized as a powerful heuristic in online credibility assessment.

Keywords: credibility, social media, undergraduate, survey research

La beauté est la vérité , la vérité est la beauté : L'évaluation par les étudiants de la crédibilité des documents en ligne

Résumé : Cette étude présente les résultats d'une enquête visant à déterminer la crédibilité que les étudiants accordent aux documents en ligne ressemblant à des messages de médias sociaux. Les répondants à l'enquête étaient 1 019 étudiants de premier cycle d'une université canadienne de taille moyenne. Les étudiants provenaient d'un éventail de programmes et de différentes années d'études dans ces programmes. L'instrument d'enquête présentait différents stimuli aux étudiants afin de voir comment leurs scores variaient, et demandait ensuite aux étudiants d'expliquer leur notation. Un certain nombre de dynamiques significatives sont apparues, telles que la tendance des étudiants à accorder des scores de crédibilité plus faibles aux informations mal présentées, même lorsqu'elles sont factuelles, et à expliquer les informations en se référant à des connaissances antérieures. Ces dynamiques varient peu en fonction du domaine ou de l'année d'étude, ce qui suggère que la présentation devrait être reconnue comme une heuristique puissante dans l'évaluation de la crédibilité en ligne.

Mots-clés : crédibilité, médias sociaux, premier cycle universitaire, enquête de recherche

 

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