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Evaluating information sources
Here are some questions to ask yourself when assessing the quality of a resource. (If you are doing a detailed systematic review, you might like to consider using a toolkit like DISCERN.)
Source
- Who has written your source? Can you contact them to feedback or discuss applications to practice, inaccuracies etc?
- Are they credible within the academic/healthcare world?
- How credible is the source of the publication? Has it been peer-reviewed before it is published?
Currency
- When was the source published? If the source was published along time ago, is it out of date?
- How frequently is the resource updated and is that adequate?
- Is the model or theory still accepted within academia?
Population
- Is the information only relevant for one gender, age or cultural group or geographical area?
- Is the information scalable to a larger population?
Presentation & purpose
- Is the website professionally presented? Is it a personal website , possibly work in progress?
- Does it provide proper references to materials cited? Is glossy presentation disguising lack of content?
- Is there a quality kite mark (such as Health on the Net Foundation)?
- Why is the material being published? Is it commercially or politically biased?
- Has the research been sponsored by someone? Is this explicit?
Justifiability of claims
Use your professional judgement to critically examine the information contained within the resource.
- Does the resource cover the subject in sufficient depth?
- Are the claims supported by appropriate, balanced evidence?
Testability
- Is it possible test the claims made?
- Has the information information been tested by other experts? Did this prove or contradict (falsify) the claims?
- Has the resource been favourably cited by others?
Relevance
- How relevant is the information to your patient, problem, assignment...?
- Does the material contribute something new to your understanding of the topic? Does it express it better than other resources?
- Can these findings be applied to practice?
- Should you communicate this to colleagues or revise a treatment protocol?
