How To Research: A Starter Kit

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On this learning guide, you will find the following methods:

Authority

Information resources reflect their creator's expertise and credibility and are evaluated based on the information need and the context in which the information will be used. Authority is constructed in that various communities may recognize different types of authority. It is contextual in that your information need may help to determine the level of authority required.

Using this concept means you have to identify the different types of authority and why the author considers themselves credible, as well as why their community considers them credible. An author can be a person, journalist, scholar, organization, website. Author is different from authority, which is the quality that gives an author trustworthiness.

Types of authority:

Trustworthiness depends on:

A clear explanation with several examples of what authority is contextual means and how to use it in your reading.

West Valley College Library. (2019, September 14). Authority is contextual [Video file]. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6YCR215Z1o

An instructional cartoon showing how one student figures out the authority of a text

Steely Library North Kentucky University. (2018, September 18). Authority is constructed [Video
file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnzbCRmIeXM

SIFT (The Four Moves)

A short list of four things to do or moves that may help you sort fact from fiction. All four moves are meant to help you reconstruct the context you need to read your text.

The moves are:

  1. Stop,
  2. Investigate the source,
  3. Find better coverage,
  4. Trace claims, quotes, and media to the original context.

Short essay by Mike Caulfield on how to make the four moves, and why it is a different and better approach than the checklist (CRAAP is an example of the checklist).

Mike Caulfield is director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University Vancouver, and head of the Digital Polarization Initiative of the American Democracy Project, a multi-school pilot to change the way that online media literacy is taught.

Open source book by Mike Caulfield with deep and detailed instructions on how to use the four moves.

Caulfield, Mike. 2017. Web literacy for student fact checkers. andd other people who care about facts. Press Books.

Lateral Reading

Related to SIFT, lateral reading is the third move of SIFT. You are meant to leave the website you are evaluating to read elsewhere and check up on the content in the original website.

Three questions form the core of lateral reading:

  1. Who is behind the information?
  2. What is the evidence?
  3. What do other sources say?
A video describing what lateral reading is and how to do it. Lessons with videos on information and lateral reading. from Civic Online Reasoning, a research and development group from Stanford.

Article summarizing research from Stanford scholars Sam Wineberg and Sarah McGrew about how experts read for accuracy. Links to original report.

The CRAAP Test

Sometimes also called the CRAP Test, use a checklist to read to your text and decide whether it is credible. CRAAP is an acronym for currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose.

When you read, look for.

  1. Currency (whether the text is up-to-date),
  2. Relevance (does it relate to your topic or research query)
  3. Authority (does the author have the credentialed expertise to speak),
  4. Accuracy (are the data correct), and
  5. Purpose (why does the author want you to read their text?).
Interactive infographic with specifics on how to use the CRAAP checklist. from Sheridan Library and Learning Services A Wikipedia entry on the aspects of CRAAP and its history.

A variation of the CRAAP test is adapted from Palmquist, Mike. The Bedford Researcher. 6th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2018. Print.

Evaluate Relevance:

Does the source provide information you can use in your research? Can the source answer your research question directly?

Evaluate Evidence:

Is there enough evidence? Is the evidence the right kind? Is the evidence presented fairly? Are sources of evidence clearly identified?

Evaluate the author:

What are the authors credentials and experiences? Is the author knowledgeable? What are the author’s biases?

Evaluate the publisher:

What is the purpose and reputation of the publisher? How do the publisher’s bias affect the information, ideas and arguments?

Evaluate timelines:

Does the publication date affect the quality of evidence?

Evaluate comprehensiveness:

Does source complete and balanced evidence?

Evaluate genre:

What type of document/media is the source? How does that affect the information of the source?

Evaluating research articles

Evaluating evidence-based research articles in scholarly journals requires deep knowledge of the discipline, which you might not acquire until you are deeper into your education. These guiding questions can help you evaluate a research report, even if you aren't an expert in the field.

Questions include:

  1. Why was the study undertaken?
  2. Who conducted the study?
  3. Who funded the research?
  4. How was the data collected? Is the sample size and response rate sufficient?
  5. Does the research make use of secondary data?
  6. Does the research measure what it claims to measure?
  7. Can the findings be generalized to my situation, institution or country?

Sandstrom, A.-M. (2018, April 19). 8 ways to determine the credibility of research reports [Blog post]. Retrieved from European Association for International Education website: https://www.eaie.org/blog/8-ways-determine-credibility-research-reports.html

Questions to guide you through evaluating an evidence-based research article. Adapted from Bryman, A., Social Research Methods 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.

A tutorial on how to navigate evidence-based research articles by understanding the sections and what you might find in the sections.