A Practical Guide to Doing Behavioral Research on Fake News and Misinformation

被引:59
|
作者
Pennycook, Gordon [1 ,2 ]
Binnendyk, Jabin [2 ]
Newton, Christie [2 ]
Rand, David G. [3 ,4 ,5 ]
机构
[1] Univ Regina, Hill Levene Sch Business, Regina, SK, Canada
[2] Univ Regina, Dept Psychol, Regina, SK, Canada
[3] MIT, Sloan Sch Management, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
[4] MIT, Inst Data Syst & Soc, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
[5] MIT, Dept Brain & Cognit Sci, E25-618, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
基金
加拿大健康研究院;
关键词
misinformation; fake news; news media; truth discernment; social media;
D O I
10.1525/collabra.25293
中图分类号
B84 [心理学];
学科分类号
04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Coincident with the global rise in concern about the spread of misinformation on social media, there has been influx of behavioral research on so-called "fake news" (fabricated or false news headlines that are presented as if legitimate) and other forms of misinformation. These studies often present participants with news content that varies on relevant dimensions (e.g., true v. false, politically consistent v. inconsistent, etc.) and ask participants to make judgments (e.g., accuracy) or choices (e.g., whether they would share it on social media). This guide is intended to help researchers navigate the unique challenges that come with this type of research. Principle among these issues is that the nature of news content that is being spread on social media (whether it is false, misleading, or true) is a moving target that reflects current affairs in the context of interest. Steps are required if one wishes to present stimuli that allow generalization from the study to the real-world phenomenon of online misinformation. Furthermore, the selection of content to include can be highly consequential for the study's outcome, and researcher biases can easily result in biases in a stimulus set. As such, we advocate for pretesting materials and, to this end, report our own pretest of 224 recent true and false news headlines, both relating to U.S. political issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. These headlines may be of use in the short term, but, more importantly, the pretest is intended to serve as an example of best practices in a quickly evolving area of research.
引用
收藏
页数:13
相关论文
共 50 条
  • [1] #Fake News: Scientific Research in the Age of Misinformation
    Gilligan, Jeffrey T.
    Gologorsky, Yakov
    WORLD NEUROSURGERY, 2019, 131 : 284 - 284
  • [2] The Impact of Misinformation and Fake News on the Quality of Academic Research
    Akeriwe, Miriam Linda
    Ayoung, Daniel Azerikatoa
    Abagre, Francis
    Bekoe, Stephen
    QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN LIBRARIES, 2023, 12 (03): : 455 - 470
  • [3] Doing anthropological research: a practical guide
    Nolan, Riall
    JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, 2015, 21 (02) : 476 - 477
  • [4] Fake News: Medicines Misinformation by the Media
    Thomas, Jackson
    Peterson, Gregory M.
    Walker, Erin
    Christenson, JuliaK.
    Cowley, Melissa
    Kosari, Sam
    Baby, Kavya E.
    Naunton, Mark
    CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY & THERAPEUTICS, 2018, 104 (06) : 1059 - 1061
  • [5] Science audiences, misinformation, and fake news
    Scheufele, Dietram A.
    Krause, Nicole M.
    PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2019, 116 (16) : 7662 - 7669
  • [6] Beyond deceptive news (fake news). Anatomy of misinformation
    Masip, Pere
    Ferrer Sapena, Antonia
    BID-TEXTOS UNIVERSITARIS DE BIBLIOTECONOMIA I DOCUMENTACIO, 2021, (46):
  • [7] Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Practical Guide
    Davey, Gareth
    QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGY, 2013, 10 (02) : 218 - +
  • [8] Doing Anthropological Research. A Practical Guide
    Konrad, Claudia
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS, 2015, 21 (03) : 149 - 150
  • [9] Doing Qualitative Research in Psychology: a practical guide
    Hopkins, Laurence
    PSYCHOLOGY LEARNING AND TEACHING-PLAT, 2011, 10 (01): : 63 - 64
  • [10] Doing Anthropological Research. A Practical Guide
    Konrad, Claudia
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTEBOOKS, 2015, 21 (01) : 162 - 163