Dimensions and use of the scholarly information environment.
Question 22: Table 604
Digital Library Federation.
Copyright, 2002, Council on Library and Information Resources.

Table 604
Q22. How do you determine the authoritativeness of the information you receive
     from the Internet?  That is, how do you decide how much it should influence
     your current thinking?
Base Faculty Member Graduate Student Faculty / Graduate Student Under Graduate Student Public Private Liberal Arts Biological Sciences Physical Sciences Social Sciences Arts & Humanities Engineering Business Law Undecided Major Male Female
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
Base - Use the Internet 1046 302 333 635 410 433 276 336 150 175 295 207 44 131 10* 33* 599 447
Don't Know/Refused 94 14 34 48 46 46 18 31 11 10 32 18 5 11 1 6 47 47
9 4.6 10.3 7.6 11.2 10.5 6.4 9.2 7 5.7 10.8 8.6 11.9 8.5 11.7 18.2 7.8 10.6
A A I
Base - Total Responding 952 288 299 587 365 388 259 305 140 165 263 189 39 120 9* 27* 552 400
Only reference known sources 181 63 64 127 55 76 51 55 30 32 51 29 6 29 1 4 109 73
19.1 22 21.3 21.6 15 19.5 19.7 17.9 21.4 19.4 19.3 15.4 14.3 24 15.1 14.8 19.7 18.2
D D
Check with alternative sources 133 43 37 80 53 43 35 56 16 26 38 29 5 14 1 5 66 67
14 14.8 12.4 13.6 14.6 11 13.4 18.3 11.3 15.8 14.3 15.4 12.8 11.6 7.5 18.5 12 16.8
E
Trust the author 124 46 29 74 50 41 38 46 18 25 26 28 7 16 2 2 80 44
13 15.9 9.5 12.7 13.7 10.5 14.5 15 12.6 15.2 10 14.8 18.8 13.2 24.5 7.4 14.5 11
B J HJM
Trust the sponsoring organization/publisher 85 42 29 70 15 38 22 25 17 13 17 19 4 12 2 1 53 32
8.9 14.4 9.5 11.9 4.1 9.8 8.6 8.2 11.9 7.9 6.4 10.1 11.3 10.1 22.6 3.7 9.6 8.1
D D D HIJKLM
Trust the web site 79 24 24 48 31 27 27 25 11 14 19 15 6 12 2 2 44 35
8.3 8.4 8 8.2 8.5 7 10.5 8.1 7.5 8.5 7.1 7.7 14.3 10.1 17 7.4 7.9 8.8
HJK HJK
Only reference academic sources provided by  67 16 25 41 26 25 22 20 11 17 19 9 1 8 1 1 42 25
an accredited institution 7.1 5.4 8.4 6.9 7.2 6.4 8.5 6.7 8.2 10.3 7.1 4.7 1.5 7 11.3 3.7 7.6 6.2
L L L
Peer reviewed 61 21 23 44 17 28 14 19 15 13 13 11 4 5 0 0 36 25
6.4 7.3 7.7 7.5 4.7 7.3 5.5 6.1 10.7 7.9 5 5.9 10.5 3.9 1.9 0 6.6 6.2
M M
Only reference sites recommended by  44 8 21 29 15 16 14 14 5 4 13 15 1 5 0 1 26 19
colleague or peer 4.7 2.9 6.9 4.9 4.2 4 5.5 4.7 3.8 2.4 5 7.7 3.8 3.9 1.9 3.7 4.7 4.6
A I
Base it on my own opinions 38 23 7 30 9 16 10 13 6 6 6 12 1 7 0 1 27 11
4 8 2.3 5.1 2.3 4 3.8 4.2 4.4 3.6 2.1 6.5 1.5 5.4 0 3.7 5 2.7
BD
Depends on source/information 34 14 13 28 7 19 9 7 6 8 9 7 1 3 1 0 21 14
3.6 5 4.4 4.7 1.9 4.8 3.5 2.3 4.4 4.8 3.6 3.6 1.5 2.3 7.5 0 3.7 3.4
D D L
Trust the library/collection 28 6 14 20 9 21 3 4 8 5 6 4 1 3 0 1 10 18
3 2 4.7 3.4 2.3 5.4 1.3 1.3 5.7 3 2.1 2.4 3 2.3 3.8 3.7 1.8 4.6
FG P
Ask around 25 2 10 12 13 13 4 8 4 7 6 3 2 1 0 2 12 13
2.6 0.7 3.4 2.1 3.4 3.4 1.4 2.5 2.5 4.2 2.1 1.8 6 0.8 0 7.4 2.2 3.1
A A JKM
Trust if it is fee based site 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
0.1 0 0 0 0.3 0 0 0.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.7 0.2 0
Other 169 50 42 92 77 64 47 58 26 23 47 44 7 16 2 5 93 76
17.7 17.3 14.2 15.7 21 16.4 18.3 18.9 18.2 13.9 17.9 23.1 18 13.2 20.8 18.5 16.8 19
B IM
Not concerned with authoritativeness 62 8 15 23 39 24 13 25 5 8 19 13 1 12 1 3 44 18
6.5 2.8 5.1 4 10.6 6.2 5 8.2 3.8 4.8 7.1 7.1 2.3 10.1 5.7 11.1 8 4.5
ABC HL