When do information seekers trust scientific information? Insights from recipients’ evaluations of online video lectures

Abstract

Since most of the Internet is not governed by editors, the validity of online information cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, information seekers have to decide whether they should accept knowledge claims they encounter online. This study analyses how information seekers’ judgements of a source’s credibility, trustworthiness, and instructional quality are affected by the source’s professional affiliation and involvement in supporting studies. In a 2 × 2 between-subject online experiment, 143 participants watched an online video lecture in which an expert argued that organic food is superior to conventional food. The conditions varied in the experiment were the expert’s professional affiliation and his involvement in the scientific studies that he presented as supporting evidence. Analyses showed that the information about the expert’s professional affiliation and study involvement interacted as participants made their judgements about the source: When the expert was a lobbyist who referred to self-conducted studies, rather than a lobbyist who referred to studies conducted by other scientists, he was rated as less trustworthy; his information was rated as less credible; and his instructional qualities were rated as less positive. For scientists, this effect did not occur.

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