CAPE

UNIT 1 INFORMATION
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
THEORY

MODULE 3
INFORMATION AND
PROBLEM-SOLVING Objective 4:
Explain how information can be used to
solve real-life problems.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(1)
⦿ Remember, it is important that you should not believe
everything you read.
⦿ Moreover, you should be able to reject or accept
information based on the characteristics of the
information and the source from which the information
was obtained.
⦿ Perhaps one of the most important ways of evaluating
information is simply common sense.
⦿ If things appear unbelievable, then generally they should
be treated with a pinch of salt.
⦿ However, there are other, more concrete, criteria that
can be used in evaluating printed or electronic material.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(2)
The following is a list of relevant criteria:
⦿ One criterion is whether the publication is a refereed one.
◼ Articles in most scholarly journals go through a rigorous
process of peer evaluation, in which the editor of the
journal sends a manuscript to at least two, but typically
three, other experts in the field.
◼ Only when all referees agree that the manuscript is
worthy of publication will it be published.
◼ Similar processes are applied to books published by
reputable publishers.
◼ Clearly, this means that articles in refereed publications
are more likely to be acceptable.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(3)
⦿ A related criterion is the level of scholarship of the
publication.
◼ This criterion is especially important in evaluating
printed materials.
◼ One can distinguish between scholarly publications and
those intended for a general audience.
◼ Clearly, the latter are often easier to understand but
may lack a more in-depth analysis.
◼ An important question to ask when evaluating
information according to this criterion is who is the
work's intended audience.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(4)
⦿ Another criterion relevant to the acceptance or rejection
of information is the degree of specificity or relevance to
the research being undertaken.
◼ For example, newspaper articles are generally intended
for a general audience and may therefore not be
specific enough for one's purposes.
◼ Whether a book or a journal article is relevant can often
be determined by carefully examining the title of the
publication.
◼ For a book, one can often get more information by
reading the preface and the table of contents.
◼ Journal articles often have abstracts, which can be used
to determine the relevance of the article to the
research project being undertaken.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(5)
⦿ A further relevant criterion is the authority of the author
of the publication.
◼ Many publications include biographical notes on the
author.
◼ Another relevant piece of information is the affiliation
of the author.
◼ Authors associated with reputable organizations (e.g.
reputable universities) are usually more authoritative on
the subject.
◼ Relevant questions to consider here are:
• Is the author an expert, scholar, or practitioner in the field?
• Has the author written other relevant publications?
• Is the author cited by others writing on the subject?
• What institution is the author affiliated to?
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(6)
⦿ Another important criterion that can be used in judging
whether to reject or accept a written publication is the
extent to which the author shows familiarity with the
literature.
◼ Clearly, an authoritative publication in the field will
contain references to such publications.
◼ More generally, it is important to determine whether
the publication contains a bibliography.
◼ Also, does the author display knowledge of the various
theories and techniques in the field?
◼ If the author's treatment is controversial, is the author
aware of it and does he or she acknowledge it?
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(7)
⦿ The accuracy of the publication is clearly of great
importance too.
◼ One way of determining the accuracy of a publication is
to compare it with other publications.
◼ For example, are the data presented in the publication
comparable to those in other publications?
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(8)
⦿ Timeliness of information was previously mentioned but
clearly this is extremely relevant in the evaluation of
information.
◼ For example, a book published in 1980 in the area of
Computer Science, or one published in 1925 in Medicine
are likely to contain outdated information.
◼ On the other hand, publications that appeared early in
the century may be extremely relevant for a piece of
historical research.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(9)
⦿ A final criterion that is worth mentioning is the objectivity
of the information.
◼ It is important to note that the fact that a publication
contains subjective information does not necessarily
mean that it needs to be rejected.
◼ Whether to reject it depends on the research topic.
◼ For example, a research project that sets out to discuss
and compare different views on some current issues, say
the current telecommunications regulatory framework,
must rely on subjective publications.
◼ However, a research project that sets out to answer an
empirical scientific question should rely primarily on
objective information.
 CRITERIA FOR REJECTING/ACCEPTING
INFORMATION…(10)
⦿ Here's a summary of the criteria that should be used to
analyze information for validity.

Criteria Questions to consider

Bias Does the source of the information favours a particular
point?
Is the source objective or subjective?
Accuracy Is the information correct as presented?
Is it truthful?
Is it without typographical and grammatical errors?
Cultural context Is the information generalized or is it specific to a region,
country, ethnic group etc.?
Completeness Is the information complete (i.e. it does not lack vital pieces
of information)?
Is it understandable?
Currency of information How current is the information?
 CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET…(1)
⦿ Many of the considerations discussed earlier must be
applied to information obtained from the Internet as well.
⦿ However, because of the ease with which one can publish
information on the Internet, the Internet poses a number
of additional challenges.
⦿ Here's a list of some of the additional considerations that
one may wish to take into account when evaluating
information from the Internet.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET…(2)
⦿ Earlier we discussed an important criterion, whether the
publication had been refereed.
◼ Information on the Internet is not refereed in the same
way as other publications.
◼ Nevertheless, one can gather some information about
the publishing body.
◼ First, it is important that you be able to interpret how
to decode a URL.
◼ The URL will tell whether the Web page was part of the
pages hosted by an academic organization, a
commercial organization, or hosted by a private
individual.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET…(3)
◼ Some organizations only allow their members to publish
Web pages after some form of refereeing by the
organization itself.
◼ If an organization has such a policy, any Web page will
contain a reference to it.
◼ Also, many organizations appoint so-called Webmasters.
◼ If one can contact a Webmaster directly from a page,
then the page has probably obtained some sort of
approval from the organization.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET…(4)
⦿ Currency was another criterion discussed earlier.
◼ Again, it is usually important to determine the last date
on which the page was updated.
◼ Good Web pages tend to contain the name of the
author, together with the copyright sign as well as an
indication of the date on which the page was last
updated.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
ON THE INTERNET…(5)
⦿ A final criterion that is useful in determining whether to
accept or reject a piece of information from the Internet
is the links to and from the page.
◼ If the page contains links to other pages that one
already has decided to accept as reliable, then the
author of the page shows a good understanding of the
literature.
◼ In a sense, this is the equivalent of a list of references
of an article in the printed media.
◼ However, possibly even more important are links to the
page from other pages that have already been judged to
be reliable.
◼ After all, an authoritative author is unlikely to
undermine his or her authority by including links to
unreliable pages.