It is important that educated people can
evaluate the sources of information they rely upon. They need to be able
to determine when a source is attempting to manipulate them rather than to provide
ideas or information. Use the three criteria below to help you evaluate
your resources.
Logic
and Strength of Data
For scientific information, intelligent consumers
need to assess the quality of the information. The sources you rely
on should contain
clear, reasonable statements and arguments;
reliable, appropriately gathered data (e.g., experiments with proper control
groups and unbiased measurements);
and
reasonable interpretations of data (i.e., Avoids common logical-scientific errors
such as overgeneralization of findings, claiming causality from simple correlation
data, and ignoring confounding variables).
[see course materials on research and online
practice with interpreting science for more information]
Credible Source
When you are unsure about all of the technical information in a resource (especially
scientific work), then
knowing the credibility of the source of the information rises in importance. In Psychology, as in
other sciences, many sources of information are refereed, which means other scientists have examined the work and judged it to be logical, methodologically sound, and have other good
characteristics.
Most Psychology journals are refereed.
Magazines and newspapers, such as the National Enquirer are
written by journalists and are not refereed.
Typically, books are not refereed, although they are sometimes reviewed
and the reviews are available.
Web sites are rarely refereed.
In the case of books, magazines, and web
sites, credibility is typically higher for reputable organizations (e.g,
the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society,
and the Psychonomic Society) and PhD. scientists because these groups and
individuals are strongly associated with the process of refereeing. Bias and
misrepresentation, and thus lower credibility, are more likely to be found in the information presented
on web
sites of hate organizations, individuals trying to sell products, or
"unidentifiable sources."
Timeliness
If the source of data is not recent, you should think about whether its age
could be important. Although older data and approaches may be the best available, new perspectives and methods
can be improvements or elaborations over older work. Does the source seem up to
date and if not, might that be important given the area of investigation?
