Researching Students’ Information Choices (RSIC): Determining Identity and Judging Credibility in Digital Spaces

<h3>Project Summary</h3></p>
<p>Researching Students’ Information Choices (RSIC) examined students’ point-of-selection behavior (i.e., the moment a user determines an information resource potentially meets a research need) when just beginning work on a science related research assignment. This mixed methods study captured participants’ real-time judgments. The research team created simulated Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and used these in conjunction with a think-aloud protocol to gather students’ thought processes as they progressed through five tasks. Simulations were employed to mimic the real-world experience of engaging in a Google search and to record quantitative data. The simulation presented participants with a science research query appropriate to their educational stage, asked them to perform a Google search and then review a controlled set of search results where they would determine the helpfulness, citability, credibility, and container identity. Students were divided into two groups, K-12 and higher education, and further into six educational stages – elementary school, middle school, high school, community college, university undergraduates, and graduate students.</p>

项目摘要
学生信息选择研究（Researching Students’ Information Choices, RSIC）聚焦于参与者刚启动科学类研究任务时的信息选择决策行为——即用户判定某一信息资源可满足其研究需求的瞬间。本项混合方法研究采集了参与者的实时判断数据。研究团队构建了模拟搜索引擎结果页面（Search Engine Results Pages, SERPs），并结合有声思维实验范式，采集参与者完成五项任务全过程中的思维活动。该模拟工具旨在还原谷歌（Google）搜索的真实使用场景，同时记录量化研究数据。实验中，模拟系统会向参与者提供与其受教育阶段匹配的科学研究查询主题，要求其模拟谷歌搜索流程，随后审阅一组受控的搜索结果，并对结果的有用性、可引用性、可信度以及资源载体标识进行判定。参与者被分为K12阶段与高等教育两大组别，进一步细分为六个教育阶段：小学、初中、高中、社区学院、大学本科生以及研究生。