1.
What makes us trust
online information?
The perspective of health information
Laura Sbaffi, Information School, University of Sheffield
Global Media and
Information Literacy
Week 2018

2.
What is trust?
• Not control but dependency
(acceptance of dependence on
another)
• Uncertainty about the outcome
• Trust necessarily faces risk (of failure
or damage)
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

3.
Levels of trust
Personality
characteristic
↓
“I trust”
Social tie
directed from
one person to
another
↓
“I trust you”
Emergent property
of a mutual
relationship
↓
“You and I trust
each other”
Feature of a
community as a
whole
↓
“We all trust”
Adapted from: Kelton, Fleischmann & Wallace, 2008 Laura Sbaffi, 2018

4.
Overview of online trust
 Commerce
 Banking
 Health
 Entertainment
 News
 Government
 Social media
 Education
 …and many more…
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

5.
Evaluation of online
health information
What is known about this topic?
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

6.
Source features
Site domain (.com)
Discussion groups
Lack of statement
Limited scope
Mailing lists
Private sponsors/individual owners
Site domain (.gov; .edu; .org)
Discussion/support groups
Age of website
Pictures of owners
Third party accreditation
High ranking in search engine
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

7.
Design features
Advertising
Complex layout
Boring layout
No navigation aids
Slow
No/poor search facilities
Obvious commercial look
Clear layout
Contact details
Authority of owner
Brand/Logo
Interactive features
External links
Pictures
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

8.
Content features
Bias of information
Inappropriate
Irrelevant
Complex
Spelling errors
Sensationalist
Authority of author
Credibility
Ease of use
Content
Objectivity
Familiarity
Currency
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

9.
Does trust formation evolve
with age?
1st year students
Ease of use
Content
Recommendation
Brand
3rd year students
Credibility
Usefulness
Style
Content
Ease of use
Recommendation
Brand
General population
Content/Credibility
Brand
Ease of use
Recommendation
Familiarity
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

10.
…or with gender?
Females always score higher values across the three cohorts than males
and, sometimes, such differences are statistically significant…
1st year 3rd year General
population
Brand
Brand
Credibility
Ease of use
Familiarity
Content
Credibility
Ease of use
Recommendation
Usefulness
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

11.
To summarise
1. The evaluation of digital information sources varies across
users, hence there is no “one-solution-to-fit-all”
2. People’s trust judgements of online health information
become more content-oriented as they progress in age (as
opposed to being more user-friendly).
4. The main factors to influence trust judgements across
different groups are Content (Credibility), Recommendation,
Ease of Use and Brand.
3. Women seem to attribute more importance to specific
factors influencing trust formation than men.
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

12.
References
• Corritore CL, Kracher B and Wiedenbeck S. On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a
model. Int. J. Hum.-Comput. Stud. 2003 58(6):737-58.
• Hargittai E, Fullerton L, Menchen-Trevino E, Thomas K. Trust online: young adults' evaluation of
web content. Int J Commun 2010 4:468-94.
• Hilligoss B, Rieh SY. Developing a unifying framework of credibility assessment: Construct,
heuristics, and interaction in context. Information Processing & Management. 2008 Jul
1;44(4):1467-84.
• Hjørland B. Methods for evaluating information sources: An annotated catalogue. Journal of
Information Science. 2012 Jun;38(3):258-68.
• Kelton K, Fleischmann KR, Wallace WA. Trust in digital information. Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology. 2008 Feb 1;59(3):363-74.
• Menchen-Trevino E, Hargittai E. Young adults’ credibility assessment of Wikipedia.
Information, Communication & Society. 2011 Feb 1;14(1):24-51.
• Metzger MJ, Flanagin AJ. Credibility and trust of information in online environments: the use
of cognitive heuristics. J Pragmat 2013 59:210-20.
• Nissenbaum H. Securing Trust Online: Wisdom or Oxymoron. Boston University Law Review
2001, 81 (3):635-64.
• Rowley J, Johnson F, Sbaffi L. Students’ trust judgements in online health information seeking.
Health informatics journal. 2015 Dec;21(4):316-27.
• Sbaffi L, Rowley J. Trust and credibility in web-based health information: a review and
agenda for future research. Journal of medical Internet research. 2017 Jun;19(6).
Laura Sbaffi, 2018

13.
Thank you
Global Media and
Information Literacy
Week 2018