The Internet has already entered the life of people. Having a great amount of different information, it supplies people with knowledge in different spheres. It is not necessary nowadays to go to the library or to look for some information in books. The only thing people should do is to type a question and wait for the result.
However, not all information which could be found in the Internet is credible. With this in mind, the question of credibility of the information placed in the internet obtains great significance.
The article Web site credibility: Why do people believe what they believe? by Marie Iding, Martha Crosby, Brent Auernheimer and Barbara Klemm is devoted to this issue.
The main idea of the work is to investigate the level of credibility of the information placed on different Web sites. The authors underline the necessity of investigation of this issue in odder to avoid misunderstandings connected with the wrong data found in the Internet.
The definition of the term credibility is suggested and discussed for reader to understand better what to expect from the whole work.
The authors also describe some areas in which the wrong data obtained from the Internet is especially noticeable and important. The work describes negative influence which wrong information has on health issues and consumerism. Resting on some data found in the Internet, patients and customers can make wrong conclusions and be deceived.
Moreover, importance of the credibility of information for researches and education is outlined as it is absolutely vital for a researcher or a student to base his/her works on credible information.
Moreover, the work contains two studies which are conducted in order to show peculiarities of the process of thinking of students and results of their cogitations due to which they call site credible or non credible.
The second study was made to examine computer science students determination of the level of credibility of different sources (Iding, Crosby, Auernheimer & Klemm, 2009). Having conducted these two studies, the authors come to the conclusion that different approaches to determination of the level of credibility of a source exist.
Moreover, these approaches depend on the knowledge of people who create them.
The article is organized in a very logical way. Each section is connected with the previous one and presents a certain portion of the information needed for the further understanding of the issue. Starting with the abstract, in which the main sense of the work is described, the work then comes to introduction.
In this section main ideas which were used by the authors are outlined. Moreover, the main question of the credibility of information in the Internet is introduced. In the following section the term credibility is analyzed and some theoretical information about this issue is suggested.
The next three sections are devoted to the description of some areas where credibility of the information is very important. The authors give some statistic data for a reader to ensure how important the issue is and how dangerous mistakes can be for these areas.
Some information about the health care, consumerism and researches and education was provided. The following section gives the description of 2 studies conducted by the researchers. Section Study 1 describes methods, materials and results obtained from the first experiment.
The same information connected with the second research is presented in the section Study 2. Both these sections describe and investigate statistical data obtained from the research. The data is presented in the form of tables. Next sections are devoted to suggestions connected with further investigations of this issue.
The authors summarize the information and make conclusions. Moreover, in the last section possible implications are suggested.
Having analyzed the main ideas presented in the work, it is possible to make certain conclusions. First of all, it should be said that the article has a great practical significance as it can promote further investigations of this issue.
Moreover, the authors managed to create credible and reliable work which can be taken as valid source for the researchers who want to continue investigations of this sphere. This statement can be supplied with the obvious evidence. First of all, sources used for this work should be taken into account.
Having analyzed the reference list, it is possible to conclude that the authors based their work on credible scholarly sources. This fact can serve as the evidence of the credibility of the whole work. However, there is one more fact which can prove reliability of the work.
Two experiments conducted by the authors can be taken as the attempt to add some reliable data to the work. The authors give a detailed description of the technique and methods of their research.
Having analyzed it, it I possible to say that these studies can be taken as credible and that is why the whole work is worth using in some further researches. With this in mind, it is possible to call this investigation a reliable and valid source which uses credible data and makes some logical conclusions.
This work can be recommended for researchers who investigate the issue of the credibility of information in the Internet.
Reference
Iding, M., Crosby, M., Auernheimer, B. & Klemm, B.. (2009). Web site credibility: Why do people believe what they believe? Instr Sci, 37, 43–63 doi 10.1007/s11251-008-9080-7