A1 Journal article (refereed)
Exploring early adolescents’ evaluation of academic and commercial online resources related to health (2018)

Kiili, C., Leu, D. J., Marttunen, M., Hautala, J., & Leppänen, P. H. (2018). Exploring early adolescents’ evaluation of academic and commercial online resources related to health. Reading and Writing, 31(3), 533-557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9797-2

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Kiili, Carita; Leu, Donald J.; Marttunen, Miika; Hautala, Jarkko; Leppänen, Paavo H.T.

Journal or series: Reading and Writing

ISSN: 0922-4777

eISSN: 1573-0905

Publication year: 2018

Volume: 31

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 533-557

Publisher: Springer Netherlands

Publication country: Netherlands

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9797-2

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/57092

Abstract

This study assessed the ability of 426 students (ages 12–13) to critically evaluate two types of online locations on health issues: an academic resource and a commercial resource. The results indicated limited evaluation abilities, especially for the commercial resource, and only a small, partial association with prior stance and offline reading ability. Only about half (51.4%) of the students questioned the credibility of the commercial online resource and only about 19% of the students showed an ability to fully recognize commercial bias. Wide variation existed in students’ ability to evaluate online information, as approximately one-fourth of the students performed poorly when evaluating the overall credibility of both online resources and one-fourth performed well. Logistic regression models showed that offline reading skills accounted for only 8.8% of the variance for the academic online resource and 15.1% of that for the commercial resource. No association appeared between evaluation and background knowledge, although an association with prior stance was observed for each online resource. The results are discussed in light of previous research and the need to pay greater attention to the critical evaluation of online resources during classroom instruction.

Keywords: information sources; evaluation; information literacy; critical thinking; health education (curriculum subjects)

Free keywords: online reading; digital literacy; adolescents; critical reading

Contributing organizations

Related projects

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2018

JUFO rating: 2