Dimensions and use of the scholarly information environment.
Question 21: Table 603
Digital Library Federation.
Copyright, 2002, Council on Library and Information Resources.

Table 603
Q21. How do you verify the information you receive from the Internet?  That is,
     how do you establish the accuracy of the information you receive from the
     open Internet?
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 29 8 12 20 10 17 3 9 2 6 8 6 1 4 0 3 17 12
2.8 2.6 3.5 3.1 2.4 4 1.1 2.7 1.2 3.4 2.5 2.7 3.3 2.8 3.3 9.1 2.8 2.8
F
Base - Total Responding 1017 294 322 616 401 416 273 327 149 169 288 202 42 127 10* 30* 582 435
Check it against another source 399 129 109 239 161 159 98 142 49 62 107 99 19 51 4 8 232 168
39.3 44 34 38.7 40.1 38.3 35.9 43.3 33.1 36.7 37.3 48.9 44.5 40.1 43.1 26.7 39.8 38.5
B HIJ H
Only reference known sources 210 64 72 136 74 73 66 72 26 41 66 34 6 30 2 7 128 82
20.7 21.9 22.4 22.1 18.4 17.4 24.2 21.9 17.2 24.3 22.9 16.7 14.4 23.4 15.5 23.3 22 19
E L
Trust the sponsoring organization/publisher 86 29 29 58 28 33 25 27 18 15 19 16 4 9 1 4 51 35
8.4 9.8 9.2 9.5 6.9 8 9.2 8.3 11.8 8.9 6.5 7.8 10.3 7.3 10.3 13.3 8.7 8
Only reference academic sources provided by 82 19 24 43 39 28 25 28 13 17 32 6 1 10 1 2 47 35
 an accredited institution 8.1 6.5 7.5 7 9.7 6.8 9.3 8.7 8.9 10.1 11.1 2.8 2.1 8 12.1 6.7 8 8.1
KL KL KL KL KL
Trust the web site 73 19 30 49 25 30 26 17 10 16 19 10 6 11 1 1 46 28
7.2 6.4 9.2 7.9 6.2 7.3 9.6 5.1 6.5 9.5 6.5 5 14.4 8.8 5.2 3.3 7.8 6.4
HJK
Trust the author 70 26 21 47 23 27 26 17 7 18 13 20 5 6 0 1 47 23
6.9 8.8 6.6 7.6 5.7 6.6 9.3 5.2 4.7 10.7 4.6 10 11 4.4 3.4 3.3 8.1 5.2
HJM HJM
Discuss with professor 67 0 19 19 48 21 9 37 4 13 26 17 2 2 1 3 32 35
6.6 0 6.1 3.2 11.9 5.1 3.2 11.4 2.4 7.7 9.2 8.3 5.5 1.5 5.2 10 5.6 8
A ABC EF HM HM HM M
Peer reviewed 43 23 12 35 8 20 12 11 10 9 11 4 2 5 0 1 25 17
4.2 7.8 3.7 5.7 1.9 4.9 4.2 3.3 6.5 5.3 3.9 2.2 5.5 3.6 1.7 3.3 4.3 4
BD D K
Trust the library/collection 42 9 21 30 13 26 9 7 6 6 11 11 3 4 0 1 19 23
4.2 3.1 6.5 4.8 3.1 6.2 3.5 2.1 4.1 3.6 3.9 5.6 6.8 2.9 1.7 3.3 3.3 5.3
G
Only reference sites recommended by  34 6 9 16 19 11 11 13 2 4 9 16 1 2 0 1 17 18
colleague or peer 3.4 2.2 2.9 2.6 4.7 2.6 4.1 3.9 1.2 2.4 3.3 7.8 1.4 1.5 1.7 3.3 2.9 4.1
HILM
Do a search on the author 30 3 7 10 20 11 5 13 2 6 15 7 0 0 0 0 15 15
2.9 1 2.2 1.6 4.9 2.7 2 3.9 1.2 3.6 5.2 3.3 0 0 0 0 2.5 3.4
AC M LM M
Self investigation 26 11 3 14 11 5 7 13 4 5 8 3 1 2 0 2 12 14
2.5 3.9 0.9 2.3 2.8 1.3 2.6 4.1 3 3 2.6 1.7 3.4 1.5 1.7 6.7 2.1 3.1
B E
Trust if it is fee based site 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other 117 53 28 82 35 40 40 36 26 24 23 25 4 8 2 6 74 43
11.5 18.1 8.8 13.2 8.8 9.7 14.8 11.1 17.2 14.2 7.8 12.2 10.3 6.6 15.5 20 12.6 10
BD JM M M
Do not verify information 39 6 15 21 18 18 10 11 4 4 9 4 1 12 0 3 25 14
3.9 2 4.7 3.4 4.5 4.4 3.8 3.2 3 2.4 3.3 2.2 3.4 9.5 3.4 10 4.4 3.2
HIJK