Multiple viewpoints increase students' attention to source features in social question and answer forum messages

Abstract

Social question & answer forums offer great learning opportunities, but students need to evaluate the credibility of answers to avoid being misled by untrustworthy sources. This critical evaluation may be beyond the capabilities of students from primary and secondary school. We conducted 2 studies to assess how students from primary, secondary, and undergraduate education perceive and use 2 relevant credibility cues in forums: author's identity and evidence used to support his answer. Students didn't use these cues when they evaluated forums with a single answer (Experiment 1), but they recommended more often answers from selfreported experts than from users with a pseudonym when multiple sources were discussed in the forum (Experiment 2). This pattern of results suggested that multiple viewpoints increase students' attention to source features in forum messages. Experiment 2 also revealed that primary school students preferred personal experience as evidence in the messages, whereas undergraduate students preferred the inclusion of documentary sources. Thus, while children mimic the adult preference for expert sources in web forums, they treat source information in a rather superficial manner. To conclude, we outline possible mechanisms to understand how credibility assessment evolves across educational levels, and discuss potential implications for the educational curriculum in information literacy.

Going beyond children's single‐text comprehension: The role of fundamental and higher‐level skills in 4th graders’ multiple‐document comprehension

“…According to this assumption, readers pay attention to source information when documents include discrepant rather than coherent information. This explanation is also in line with recent data concerning source identification in more informal forum messages (Salmerón, Macedo‐Rouet, & Rouet, ). Our findings should be treated with caution because of the restricted variability of our measure of source use, but they provide a useful foundation for future research and educational practice.…”

Grasp of evidence: Problematizing and expanding the next generation science standards’ conceptualization of evidence

“…Other research has examined the use of evidence in constructing, revising, and evaluating models (e.g., Bamberger & Davis, 2013;Passmore & Svoboda, 2012). There have also been some studies of students' evaluation of source credibility of evidence (e.g., Salmer on, Macedo-Rouet, & Rouet, 2016), as well as studies of how students think about relatively simple methodologies (e.g., Chinn & Brewer, 2011).…”

Sourcing in the reading process: introduction to the special issue

“…In such scenarios, sourcing may play a role in whether or not readers adhere to the recommended action. Research reveals that as the author's perceived expertise increases, so do readers' intentions to buy the recommended product (Casaló, Flavián, & Guinalíu, 2011) or to recommend the advice to a fictitious friend (Salmerón, Macedo-Rouet, & Rouet, 2016). Other source credibility cues, such as the inclusion of personal experiences as evidence to support the recommendations, become salient in scenarios related to personal risk, for example deciding about vaccinations.…”