College Students Fail to Impress at Researching Online
Posted November 17, 2006Inside Higher Ed reports on some interesting findings in how college-age students use the internet to find information. The article points out that reliance on the first page of hits (99% of users!) and the Google search engine are two large missteps on the part of the average student.The article talks about the findings of a new study from the Educational Testing Service. They gathered information from 6,300 students at 63 academic institutions and found, according to the article:
“…when asked to select a research statement for a class assignment, only 44 percent identified a statement that captured the assignment’s demands. And when asked to evaluate several Web sites, 52 percent correctly assessed the objectivity of the sites, 65 percent correctly judged for authority, and 72 percent for timeliness. Overall, 49 percent correctly identified the site that satisfied all three criteria.”
There are lots of other search engines and other resources. Visit some of them in addition to Google. Triangulation, or checking for the same information in more than one place, is essential if you want to be sure there is truth behind what a website says — especially if it isn’t a peer-reviewed piece of work.
Comments
Those statistics match-up with what I experience quite well. I can’t recall ever seeing the art/science of research being taught. Most of us just slowly pick it up over time, without being conscience of it (I’ve never practiced googling). Getting a knowledge worker job turbocharged things for me. Trusting my sources for a grade pales in comparison to trusting them for a paycheck.
I’ve found that hitting the 1st page of Google and the 1st of Yahoo provides the best mix. There ranking algorithms are apparently very different. Both of them index Wikipedia extremely well, so I never need their search feature.
When I’m really looking for some important information I always use Google, Yahoo and MSN. You also shouldn’t stop on the first page of results. Sometimes more relevant information can be found on page two or even ten.
But what’s even much more scary, is that most people don’t really know how Google-results are created. They can’t even distinguish between advertisement and organic results.
In Germany, or more precise, in Munich at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität - one of the three or four elite universities of the countries - there are students which simply stop researching at all, if they haven´t found anything on their subject in Google. And researching means: typing the main keyword, looking for the first 10 positions and that´s it. No other search engine, no other keywords, no nothing. It gets even worse, if they find something: copy and paste, that´s a common way of writing their papers, at least in human sciences.
I agree with Daniel E. about never seeing the “art” of research taught, especially at a university level. The university I teach at used to have a mandatory class for all freshman where researching and learning how to “argue” was part of the curriculum. Unfortunately, this class has been dropped (due to economics, I think). Instructors seem to assume that research skills have been learned (by osmosis?) or taught in some other class. So, whose job is it to teach research skills? Teaching students how to verify internet sources is another important skill to teach. Many students still believe everything they read on the internet is true!
I used to do a lot of consulting for internet marketing firms and have noticed a drastic change in search results. In my opinion this is due to affiliate marketing and article submission sites.
People are constantly trying to game google and other search engines, many of them with great success. The problem this creates are false results. A few years ago, a specific search returned fairly relevant results. Now, the information cannot be trusted as much due to the fact that many of the top results returned for a given search phrase is nothing more then “spammy� articles created to reach top placement and usually it is an affiliate marketer with no real knowledge of the given subject.
Although much smaller, in my opinion Ask.com is returning more relevant results then google is because it is not “gamed� as much.
Of course, Marc, you´re right about some results in Google. But whatever the competence of those websites may be, students should be able to make a difference. After all, there´s no big deal in opening a page, taking a look and realising what´s it all about. Particularly in academic subjects. Complaining about no search results has nothing to do with search engines but with interest alone.
I have to agree with both Marc and Frank on this topic. Yes, there are firms out there that make it their business to “game” Google and other major search engines (e.g. Yahoo, MSN)to ensure that their clients are listed on the first page of search engine results for various keywords. However, these folks largely focus on the commercial end of the internet e.g. consumer goods and services. This is not necessarily the case, as Frank pointed out, when it comes to academic subjects on which most college students are often required to do research on. So the first search page results in such cases, in my experience, are usually more relevant and accurate.
Many students today use the internet as a crutch, the same way my generation (I’m in my 40’s) turned to electronic calculators. It both instances, they’re very useful tools, but should not be seen as the be all and end all. It’s a very easy trap to fall into.
Triangulating IS very important, especially to see the larger picture.
Improving information literacy is the key factor. Not all students are computer savvy and fully understand how to search for accurate information.
I usually look beyond the first page of either search engine only when I find that the info I am looking for is totally not available in the first page of results. Also, I do not use a dozen different search engines, it is either google or yahoo, but I get what I am looking for 95% of the time, so I certainly am not complaining.
And it certainly is true that most people don’t tend to look beyond the first page or results. If desperate, the first 3 perhaps, but certainly not more than that
[…] Michigan State’s BlogsforLearning points to this article at Inside Higher Ed, about the, frankly hideous, information literacy levels of some students. In the interest of fostering some information literacy here are some resources: […]