Credibility of Information PSYC3002 / PSYC-FP3002/ PSYC3003 HELP

Using the CRAAP Test to assess the credibility of an online article

The CRAAP Test is the first portion of the CRAAP Test & Library Worksheet and it asks you to evaluate one of the above Web page articles for credibility by assessing five criteria: the Currency of the page, the Relevance of the information, the Authority of the information source, the Accuracy of the information, and the Purpose of the information.

Assessing Currency

Three questions are provided in the CRAAP Test to evaluate the currency or timeliness of the Web page article.

• Is the information current enough? This requires you to find the date the Web page article was posted, usually found at the top of the page. If the article reports it has been updated, accept that as your currency date. If the date of the article is more than 5 years old, it may have little currency value, and you may grade this criterion with a very low score (0-1). If the article is only 2-3 years old, that may deserve a mid-range score (2-3). If the article is very recent or recently updated in the last 1-2 years, that may deserve a high currency score (3-4).
• Has the information been updated in the last 6 months? Web page articles updated or revised in the last 6 months suggest a very strong currency value (3-4). Without any updates, score much lower in the 0-2 range. The information may be current enough as shown in the previous criterion, but this criterion gives further credit for well-maintained and revised information.
• Are the links functional? If there are links to outside resources on the Web page, click some of them to see if any of them end with a 404 Error or other indication the link is dead and has not been maintained by the page publisher. A Web page with dead link(s) is a bad sign for currency, and should be scored low (0-1). If your checking reveals no dead links, score high for this currency criterion (3-4).
• Total the scores from these three criteria and insert that score into the Currency Score box. The total score for Currency cannot exceed 10 points.

Assessing Relevance

Three questions on the CRAAP Test are used to assess the relevance of the information you seek.

• Does the information relate to your topic or answer your question? Searching for information online may yield web page articles that are only vaguely related to the topic or question for which you seek answers. You may simply try another search or refine your search terms. If you choose to use a Web page source that is less relevant , not "on-target" as much as you would like, you need to grade this relevance criterion on the low end because it may have been written for a different target audience. The information may be more credible or valuable for a different search than yours, but you are assessing how relevant the source is for your purposes.
• Is the information at an appropriate level? Is it neither too elementary or basic for your needs nor too advanced or scholarly for you to fully understand and find useful. These extreme ends of the relevance continuum may provide current or accurate information, but if the information is not relevant to your knowledge level, then score it on the low end (0-2).
• Have you looked at a variety of sources before choosing this one? Any evaluation of the credibility of information must be compared to other sources of information. If there are no other sources found, then the one you found may the most relevant available and be given a higher core (3-4). But if you are just starting a search for information on a topic and have yet to locate and compare sources, it is difficult to judge this criterion level in isolation. Rather than give an isolated source of information a low grade, try locating others to which you can compare sources for relevance.
• Total the scores from these three criteria and insert that score into the Relevance Score box. The total score for Relevance cannot exceed 10 points.

Assessing Authority

Three questions are provided in the CRAAP Test to evaluate the authority or expertise of the Web page article.

• Are you able to determine the author or publisher of the information? Unless the author and/or publisher is clearly identified on the Web page, the information lacks authority. Pages without an identified author, or a listing such as "guest author", lend no authority or credibility to the online information. Sharing information that lacks authority will quickly harm your professional credibility. If the author/publisher is clearly identified, give a higher score (2-3) than you would for no author or guest author (0 points).
• Can you verify the author or publisher's credentials as a respected expert of the topic? Titles and credentials are a helpful way to imply authority. Credentialed or licensed professionals readily provide their credentials to enhance their professional authority and credibility to the reader. Titles or positions held may be less authoritative because a job may have been held for only a short time and verifying the employment and job description may be difficult. Even authors holding doctoral degrees may have limited authority if they are inexperienced or have little experience in the field they address in their writing. If sufficient information is provided to assure you the author is well-credentialed and expert in the field or topic being addressed, provide a high score (3-4). If credentials are missing and you wonder how much to trust this person's expertise, then score the source low (0-1). It is the writer's obligation to reveal to you their credentials and source of expertise.
• Does the URL help you to determine the source? A very rough indicator of authority and credibility for online sources is the URL domain used for the publication. Educational domains (.edu) and governmental domains (.gov) might be given an edge in authority while commercial sites (.com) and less commercial or non-profit organizations (.org) who tend to be independent of review by higher authorities (educational or governmental organizations) might be given a lesser score. Because of trends in expanding the pool of domain names, these differences may hold less significance today when attempting to assess the authority of a writer.
• Total the scores from these three criteria and insert that score into the Authority Score box. The total score for Authority cannot exceed 10 points.

Assessing Accuracy

Three questions are provided in the CRAAP Test to evaluate the accuracy or correctness of the Web page article.

• Did the author back up his/her statements with credible evidence and list/link to verifiable sources? Unlike published books and professional papers, Web pages are not typically reviewed for credibility by professional peers in the field of the published topics. Anyone can create a Web page and post articles [just like this one!], and millions of people do this every day. To improve credibility and provide accurate information, online authors may provide a list of references at the end of an article or links to outside sources designed to confirm the accuracy of the author's statements. Listing resources and/or links to resources is a soft indicator of accuracy of information. These resources must be verifiable. If the linked resources are inaccurate, lacking authority, or providing bias or propaganda, that may severely detract from the accuracy of the article you are reading. Only by checking the resources can the reader determine the accuracy and credibility of the evidence provided by the author.
• Is the information free of spelling, grammar, or other typographical errors? Online articles that contain spelling, grammar, or typographical errors should be considered suspect when evaluating accuracy of information. They don't make the information inaccurate, but these overt indicators suggest a writer or publisher who does not attend to the details of professional writing. If your spelling is inaccurate, perhaps your information is inaccurate. A random typographical error is no cause to provide a low score on accuracy, but several errors in writing should significantly lower your accuracy score as well as the credibility of the source.
• Does the language or tone seem unbiased and fee of emotion? Web page information may appear to be accurate but if the language used appears to be biased or making an emotional appeal, you may question the accuracy and provide a lower score on this criterion.
• Total the scores from these three criteria and insert that score into the Accuracy Score box. The total score for Accuracy cannot exceed 10 points.

Assessing Purpose

Three questions are provided in the CRAAP Test to evaluate the purpose or reason for the Web page article.

• Is the purpose to inform? (And not to sell, entertain, or persuade) Even on Web pages from otherwise credible sources, the articles posted may have a purpose beyond providing neutral information. Very credible and authoritative sources may present information in a manner designed not just to inform, but to sway your opinion (persuade), or to ultimately sell you something, or even just to entertain you in the hopes you will return to the website in the future. Give high scores for neutral information and lower scores when it appear the author has ulterior motives for writing.
• Is the information fact? (And not opinion or propaganda) Statements of fact are a very strong sign of credibility. Unfortunately, we may not always be able to verify factual statements. If the author provides credible references to the alleged facts or links to supportive evidence (see Accuracy above), that makes our evaluation job easier. Without supportive evidence from references or links, we may be left to search for the authenticity of information which is difficult and time consuming and deserves a lower score on this criterion. If the author provides repeated "statements of fact" without supportive evidence, you may be reading opinion, or worse, propaganda which deserve a very low score on this criterion.
• Is the source free of ideological, cultural, religious, institutional, or personal biases? Even very accomplished professionals are human and subject to bias. A credible writer on a credible web site may still express information that is not free from the biases listed on this criterion. If after reading the article it sounds neutral and as free from bias as humanly possible, give a high score on this criterion. The more severe the apparent bias, no matter how understandable, the lower the score on this criteria. As readers we must all be aware of our natural tendency to seek information that confirms our existing beliefs (confirmation bias), and writers may struggle with the same natural biases even in their professional writing.
• Total the scores from these three criteria and insert that score into the Purpose Score box. The total score for Purpose cannot exceed 10 points.

Total Score

Add up the five scores you have recorded in the five criteria boxes above and that becomes your Total Score. Enter the Total Score into the Total Score box. Guidelines are provided in the CRAAP Test to evaluate the overall credibility of the Web page article. A Total Score of 50 is very unlikely as few online sources achieve this level of credibility. This is a subjective evaluation so there is no "correct" score for the Web pages we have provided. The point of this exercise is to give you the experience of evaluating the credibility of a Web page article using a recognized assessment instrument.

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