Chapter 3 – Evaluating Information Information Systems, First Edition John Wiley & Sons, Inc by France Belanger and Craig Van Slyke Contributor: Brian West, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Learning Objectives Discuss why it is important both personally and professionally to be an informed information consumer Describe information overload, its consequences and approaches for dealing with information overload Discuss the relationship between information overload and information evaluation List and describe the dimensions of information quality List and describe the elements of an information evaluation framework Given an information-related task, evaluate information for its usefulness and believability Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Biased Information in a trusted outlet Information is often biased, sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally. A particular article was about an output device called a plotter. A plotter is used to produce large-format drawings, such as architectural and engineering plans. The article was very positive about a plotter that used pencils rather than inkjet or laser. Inkjet and laser-like plotters were much faster than pencil plotters and more versatile. The author was the national marketing manager for the only company that manufactured pencil plotters (at that time). Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Focusing Questions Making these decisions based on biased or otherwise low-quality information can lead to serious consequences, such as spending thousands of dollars on an inferior plotter. Give two examples of instances where you encountered biased information. What made you think the information was biased? What are some of the consequences of relying on biased information? Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Being a smart information consumer Being successful in today’s knowledge society requires being a good information consumer The goal of this chapter is to help you improve your information evaluation skills. ___________________: The systematic determination of the merit and worth of information. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Information One of the great things about the Internet is that there are almost no “_____________” who determine what can be posted. This means that there is no quality control In more traditional media, the responsibility for evaluating the quality and correctness of information was the job of editors and publishers. With the Internet, that responsibility shifts to the information consumer Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Information In business, we often use information to reduce uncertainty The more uncertainty, the more we seek information in order to reduce that uncertainty Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. My online life We all face a daily torrent of information. The more “connected” you are, the more information you face. As you go throughout the next day, pay attention to how you deal with the information you face each day What strategies do you use to determine what information is important and to reduce the amount of information you deal with? How successful are these strategies? How could you improve your approach to information filtering? Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Overload ___________________: Being faced with more information than one can effectively process. The more information we have to sift through, the less attention we have to devote to other tasks It reduces productivity, increases stress and can actually lead to physical health problems. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Overload Managers know the value of information and gather information for many different reasons In a belief that more information improves decision making To justify decisions To verify previously-acquired information To “play it safe” by making sure they do not miss any relevant information In the belief that the information may be useful later Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Dealing with Information Overload Two major strategies for dealing with information overload are filtering and withdrawal Withdrawal essentially involves disconnecting from sources of information; not checking email, turning off the television, not surfing the Web and so on Filtering information involves knowing what information we need and what information merits attention and use, which makes knowing how to evaluate information a critical skill in today’s information rich world Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Dimensions of Information Quality There are many views on what constitutes “high quality” information. Search the Web to discover different views on the dimensions of information quality. What, in your opinion, are the three most important dimensions of information quality? Why do you think these are the most important? Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Quality Garbage in, garbage out If you use bad information as the basis for a decision, you are probably going to make a bad decision Dimensions of information quality; the characteristics of information that make it useful or not useful. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Dimensions of Information Quality Intrinsic quality includes dimensions of quality that are important regardless of the context or how the information is represented. Contextual quality includes the dimensions that may be viewed differently depending on the task at hand. Representational quality concerns how the information is provided to the user. Accessibility quality has to do with whether authorized users can easily access the information. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Quality Information Quality Intrinsic Contextual Figure 3.1 Information Quality Dimensions Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Intrinsic Dimension Intrinsic Dimension Definition: Extent to which the information is: Accurate Believable Objective Understandable Consistent Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Contextual Dimension Contextual Dimension  Definition: Extent to which the information is: Relevant Timely Complete Current Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Quality There needs to be emphasis on the importance of considering context when thinking about information quality. Consider stock price information. It is common for free information services to delay stock price information by fifteen minutes. This is acceptable for a casual investor but devastating for a day trader Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Quality Costs On the surface, it may seem like we should want the highest quality information possible Few individuals or organizations are willing to invest the resources necessary to ensure the highest possible information quality. We want information that is of sufficient quality to carry out tasks effectively. In other words, we want “good enough” information quality. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating information sources You are thinking about investing in real estate. While doing some initial research you obtained the following sources of information A 2004 book on investing in residential real estate A local real estate broker A database of historical sales prices from your local tax collector Rank these three sources based on how willing you would be to rely on the information from the source. Briefly justify your rankings. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Information Now that you understand a bit about information quality, the question of how to evaluate information comes into play Is the information useful? Is the information believable? Useful? Relevant Appropriate Current Believable? Credible Objective Supported Comprehensive Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Usefulness If the information is not useful, then there is no need to assess its believability. To determine whether information is useful, evaluate whether the information is relevant, appropriate and sufficiently current. Each of these is a “____________” assessment. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Evaluating Relevance Information relevance is the degree to which the information is pertinent to the task at hand. Will this information help me accomplish my task? There are varying degrees of relevance With experience you will be able to determine what degree of relevance merits further evaluation Context-dependent Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Appropriateness Is the information suitable for your purpose? You will need to assess the level of detail and the depth of the information in light of your information needs. If you are researching a new technology when preparing a report for your manager, the information contained in a high school student’s report may not be appropriate for your use Context-dependent Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Evaluating Currency How current you need the information to be? If you are seeking information related to rapidly evolving topics, such as information technology, you may need information that is very up-to-date Determining the currency of Web-based information is often difficult Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Credibility Evaluating the credibility of an information source can be tricky in many cases and relatively straightforward in others More formal publications, such as peer-reviewed journals, often include short author biographies If the author has written widely on the topic in reputable sources, s/he probably has sufficient expertise to merit using the information Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Objectivity First consider the source of the information Using factual information from Dell’s Website is fine, but relying on Dell to provide an unbiased comparison of their computers to Hewlett-Packard’s is a bad idea Language that is more fact-based and neutral is more likely to be objective Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Evaluating Support Claims without support should not be trusted When support is offered, you should evaluate the quality of the support Consider the reasonableness of the claim The claim should be testable This does not mean that you have to actually test the claim, but if you can see no reasonable way to test the claim be reluctant to rely on the information. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evaluating Comprehensiveness Assessing comprehensiveness requires assessing the depth and breadth of the information. Breadth concerns whether all aspects of a topic are covered while depth concerns the level of detail provided. Look for obvious gaps in information. Throughout your evaluation, keep in mind the context of your particular task Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Summary Being able to evaluate information is a key element of information literacy, which is an important skill for both our professional and personal lives. Career and personal success depends, in part, on the outcomes of the decisions we make. Our ability to evaluate the information we use to make these decisions affects the quality of our decisions. Information overload occurs when we are faced with more information than we can effectively process. Increasing our information evaluation skills helps us deal with information overload by reducing the amount of attention and time we devote to low-quality or non-useful information. Intrinsic dimensions of information quality include accuracy, believability, objectivity and consistency. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Summary Contextual dimensions of information quality include relevance, timeliness, completeness and currency. Evaluating information concerns determining whether the information is useful and believable. Useful information is relevant, appropriate and sufficiently current for the task at hand. Believable information is credible, objective, well-supported and comprehensive. Copyright 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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