Katrina Beard
Senior Project Officer
SOFWeb Project
Classrooms of the Future
Directorate of School Education
Katrina_Beard@dse.vic.gov.au
Evaluation Questions
There is a lot of material available on the net, but not all of it is equally
reliable and useful. As a researcher a large part of your job is not simply to
find information, but to make judgements about it's merit. Before you use any
material you have found, you need to spend some time evaluating it for accuracy
and importance. Use the following questions as a guide, but also use your own
experience and skills to make a decision.
Who put this information here?
The source of the material might give you a clue to it's reliability. A site
maintained by a university or government organisation might be more reliable
than one maintained by a private citizen.
How old is the material?
Sometimes the age of information matters. If you need current statistics then
check the age of the material you have found. As a rule of thumb, in most
fields anything more than five years old is probably out-dated. This doesn't
mean you shouldn't use it, but that you need to be aware that your
information is not necessarily the most recent.
How often is the site up-dated?
Again, if you need recent material it is important that the site you are using
is up-dated regularly.
Who wrote the information?
The status of the writer is often of considerable importance in deciding the
reliability of material on the net. You can probably assume that material
written or otherwise provided by a known expert in the field is likely to be
reliable. If you have never heard of the writer do some research on him or
her. Perhaps check a Dictionary of Biography or a Who's Who.
Why is this material here?
Who put the material on the Internet and why?
Think about whether they might have some reason other than pure helpfulness for
posting information. Many special interest groups have web pages,andd while
this doesn't necessarily mean the material is biased it is something you
need to think about.
Can I do a cross check?
Think about ways you might cross check the information you have found. You
might have a look at another site with similiar material, ask somebody who
knows something about the topic, have a look at book on the subject. Use your
own experience as well. If you have already done some research in
the area you will already have some knowledge of the subject. How does this
material fit in with what you already know?