Skip to Main Content

Evaluate Sources - A Self-Guided Tutorial: Evaluate - Overview

Evaluate Information

In this section, we will discuss more about biases and agendas. We also introduce some potential frameworks that can be used to evaluate resources.

The process of peer review is a type of evaluation of the overall quality and accuracy of information being represented. However, peer review is just one framework for evaluation. As individuals, we are constantly evaluating information and making decisions based on our understanding of the knowledge we have received. 

When we gather, analyze, and offer interpretation of data we draw upon other frameworks to shape our decision making around information. Take for example, the following scenario:

Comic about source types

Detailed description of comic (Comic made at Pixton.com)

 

Evaluation of information is more than understanding if your source is scholarly or popular. When we evaluate information we also work off of a set internal criteria based on our prior knowledge and social conditioning to filter our responses to newly presented information. Our evaluation of information is also related to social cultural layers and external contexts such as:

  • Value and moral beliefs - religious systems, ethical orientation, and sense of morality
  • Personal experiences - sexual biology, orientation, generation
  • Socialization - educational level, informational and technological access, locale, employment
  • Institutionalization - intersection with systems such as military, prison, mental health or other special needs facilities, etc.

There is a matrix of any combination of these factors that we, as consumers, constantly weigh when it comes to deciding what information feels "accurate" and "trustworthy." Our internal matrix is the basis of our informational biases. Everyone has a bias which informs how they interpret information and how they respond to counter information.