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