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Public Policy and Administration - Vancouver: Evaluating Sources

Why Evaluate your Sources?

Why do we need to evaluate our sources? We want to make sure we are using the most accurate and credible information available.

  • Just because it is peer reviewed does not necessarily mean it is correct. Peer reviewed studies can still be retracted.
  • We all have bias, and those biases shape our research in inescapable ways. We need to be aware of both the author's and our own positionality.
  • The truth is subjective and ever changing. What was scientific fact 50 years ago, may not be today.

There is no black and white way to evaluate sources. All we can do is think critically about the information we have, and use things like the ACT UP checklist as guides.

ACT UP

ACT UP means to act in a way that pushes against dominant narratives and oppressive hierarchies of knowledge production. 
  • Move away from passively consuming media.
  • Think critically about the resources you are using, citing, and forwarding in your community
  • We all have a social responsibility to share information that is true. This makes us informed cultural producers of information every time we repost, retweet, share, or site information.
  • Use the ACT UP method to evaluate your sources, push against dominant narratives, burst filter bubbles and oppressive citation circles
  • This is a borrowed & reused acronym from ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) - a direct action advocacy group working to help those living with AIDS. While many think of ACT UP as being active in the 1980's, the work of ACT UP is still being done today. Remember, social justice change takes time.

A - AUTHOR

  • Who created the resource? Google the authors - background information matters.
  • Why did the author write the piece? To educate, convince, share information?  - Intention/motivation is critical
  • If you can't find anything about who created the resource, be skeptical

C - CURRENCY

  • What date was the resource published?
  • When was the website last updated?
  • Is the information still accurate and relevant?

T - Truth

  • Can you verify the claims in the resource through other resources (not ones that cite the resource or which the resource cited)
  • Are there typos & spelling mistakes throughout the text? Is the author is sloppy in their writing, might they be sloppy in their facts?
  • Just because you found something from a reputable site does not mean that the site cannot contain shoddy research, misinformation, or false claims. Even journal articles from reputable, peer-reviewed journals can be retracted. 

U - Unbiased

  • Obviously, we are all biased , so we're really looking for impartial resources
  • Is the resource open about their biases or trying to hide them?
  • Who is funding the research? Any conflicts of interest?
  • Are they explicitly stating their positionality?

P  - Privilege

  • Academic publishing has historically privileged white men and this still continues today
  • Who or which groups are missing from the research conversation?
  • Methodology - who was not part of the study? Does the study make claims about all people when the participants were all male, for example
  • Who has access to the source you found? Is it freely available or behind a pay wall that you have access to because you're a student?

Adapted from Evaluate Sources: ACT UP. By D Sahura, 2020. (https://libguides.salemstate.edu/evaluatingsources). CC-BY-NC-SA

Lateral Reading

Lateral reading is "the act of verifying what you're reading as you're reading it" (Heich, 2020). As you read, you should know the context of what you are reading; who wrote it, and what position they wrote it from. The idea of lateral reading comes from a web-based perspective, where you should be opening tabs (lateral to the one you are reading), to verify information as you go. We can rely on the resource we are reading solely to verify the information within, we have to check it against other sources.

Positionality

What is positionality?

  • Historically, we have separated the research from the researcher; and assumed that people could do research without their own viewpoint affecting their subject.
    • But our viewpoints are why we choose to research certain things over others. Our life experiences shape what we research, and influence how we research them.
  • "The positionality that researchers bring to their work, and the personal experiences through which positionality is shaped, may influence what researchers may bring to research encounters, their choice of processes, and their interpretation of outcomes.” (Foote & Martell, 2011).
  • Positionality is about locating the researcher in the following:
    • The relationship to the subject
    • The relationship to the participants
    • The relationship to the research context and process (Holmes, 2020; Savin-Baden & Major, 2013).

 

Source Evaluation Work Cited

  • Foote, M. Q., & Gau Bartell, T. (2011). Pathways to equity in mathematics education: How life experiences impact researcher positionality. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 78, 45-68.
  • Heick, T. (2020, August 8). The difference between lateral reading and vertical reading. Teaching Thought. Retrieved February 28, 2024. https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/how-res-ding-different-future-literacy/
  • Holmes, A. G. D. (2020). Researcher positionality--A consideration of its influence and place in qualitative research--A new researcher guide. Shanlax International Journal of Education, 8(4), 1-10.
  • Sahura, D. (2017). ACT-UP evaluation method. Salem State University. https://libguides.salemstate.edu/c.php?g=1236214&p=9046152
  • Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. (2023). Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice. Routledge.