The Correlation Between a Teenager’s Trust in Information Sources and Credibility of Sources
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
11th Grade
Presentation Topic
Behavioral Science
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
The spread of misinformation is prevalent on the internet, particularly with teenagers, who use it more than other age groups, and has repeatedly caused issues regarding the information that people accept as fact. In addition, many people believe that they do filter out misinformation, but it is unknown how effective these methods are. Knowing if there is a correlation between a teenager’s trust in information and the credibility of sources is important to finding the source of misinformation. The purpose of the study is to determine what the correlation between trust and credibility for information sources among teenagers is, and therefore to know if teenagers generally know how to filter out misinformation. If the mean of the scores amongst trust and credibility are rated on a scale of 1-10, then the value will likely differ by 3 due to information generally being moderately reliable, but teenager’s trust likely being a bit higher than the accuracy of the information. In order to determine the correlation, a survey was conducted in order to determine student’s trust in sources, while an independent research study was conducted to determine the credibility of sources. The study resulted in the average value of accuracy of information being higher than that of reliability of information, with the hypothesis not being supported due to the p-value being less than 0.001. This shows that the spread of misinformation is generally not found within the people who believe that they are filtering out misinformation, which rejects the initial hypothesis.
Recommended Citation
Phillips, Caleb, "The Correlation Between a Teenager’s Trust in Information Sources and Credibility of Sources" (2022). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 94.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2022/all/94
Location
B&E 235
Start Date
4-2-2022 9:15 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The Correlation Between a Teenager’s Trust in Information Sources and Credibility of Sources
B&E 235
The spread of misinformation is prevalent on the internet, particularly with teenagers, who use it more than other age groups, and has repeatedly caused issues regarding the information that people accept as fact. In addition, many people believe that they do filter out misinformation, but it is unknown how effective these methods are. Knowing if there is a correlation between a teenager’s trust in information and the credibility of sources is important to finding the source of misinformation. The purpose of the study is to determine what the correlation between trust and credibility for information sources among teenagers is, and therefore to know if teenagers generally know how to filter out misinformation. If the mean of the scores amongst trust and credibility are rated on a scale of 1-10, then the value will likely differ by 3 due to information generally being moderately reliable, but teenager’s trust likely being a bit higher than the accuracy of the information. In order to determine the correlation, a survey was conducted in order to determine student’s trust in sources, while an independent research study was conducted to determine the credibility of sources. The study resulted in the average value of accuracy of information being higher than that of reliability of information, with the hypothesis not being supported due to the p-value being less than 0.001. This shows that the spread of misinformation is generally not found within the people who believe that they are filtering out misinformation, which rejects the initial hypothesis.
