Can you trust this information? The motivation behind free Internet research

A recent comment on this blog post brought an issue that’s been percolating to the forefront of my mind: Can you trust information that you find online?

The short answer is “kind of.” Here’s the longer answer.

It was noted that a resource that we recently highlighted – which gives statistics on the digital economy – was put out by a think tank devoted to keeping digital content under traditional copyright restrictions. Lots of folks in the online world think that the Internet is based on a new kind of copyright, a more fluid one.

The question is, does this publication come with ulterior motives? Does it provide data that is skewed toward answering questions the way the organization wants those questions answered? In this specific case, I think the answer is that the report might give away some preconceived notions in the way it presents data, but that the data itself is so well-cited and from such upstanding research sources that what is presented can be trusted.

In general, though, we can take some thoughts away from this specific example. Most importantly this one: organizations putting content out onto the Internet for free generally have some sort of motive for doing so. Whether that motive is profit through the sale of advertising at their site, to draw attention to a product/service for sale, or to push some sort of ideological/organizational agenda – there’s usually some underlying reason for what might initially seem like a feat of pure altruism. Not that this is always bad. I’m more than willing to put up with ads at sites like Advertising Age, because the statistics and reports are worth it. I recommend the free version of Hoover’s all the time – even though it’s riddled with ads for the premium, for-purchase version – because the free version offers a lot of value.

Ads and buy-up promotions are one thing. They’re pretty easy to recognize and take into account. But when the motive for reports and publications gets tied up with ideological or organizational agendas – this can be much harder to detect.

For example, can we believe an association of health care schools when they said recently that more health care schooling will be required in the very near future?
(Incidentally, I believed the American Library Association – an organization that relies on getting new members – when they said that more librarians would be needed, and then had a really hard time finding a job.)

Another example: Here at the library we rely on statistical reports from industry associations (free and purchased) all the time. They’re hands-down the best way to find information on specific industries. We carefully analyze these reports to make sure they’re well-researched and cited, but there’s also the possibility that these reports are skewed in one way or another.

In a perfect world we probably wouldn’t get statistics from sources that are involved in any way in what they’re researching and reporting on – but that just isn’t going to happen. So I think there are two ways to proceed: 1.) With vigilance, 2.) at your library.

• Test your vigilance – When you’re looking at a report or a piece of information that you’re hoping to put to use, be aware (as Jill, the blog commenter mentioned earlier, was) of who put that piece of information out there. Google that organization and see what people are saying about them. This may be an inexact science, but anything you can pick up about the organization will help you feel more confident about how you’ll put the information they provide to use.
• Locate a library – Libraries have been doing this online information vetting for quite some time. Use their expertise. See the good folks at the Librarians’ Internet Index for reliable Web sites on every topic under the sun, investigate the BizToolkit for reviewed business research Web sites, and check out Docuticker for statistical reports.

The trend is for more free information online, as evidenced by the emerging freeconomics model, so going forward you’ll have plenty of opportunities to access free stuff online, and plenty of opportunities to think about where that stuff comes from.