Effects revised

The effects of source

documents on recall

and credibility

Megan Duncan Feb. 28, 2012

Master’s thesis

Lit: Role of journalism

Sources

• Human

• Documents

Interpret

• Simplify complex ideas

• Put new ideas in context

Report

• Traditional: Inverted pyramid

• Newer: Narrative

Lit: Source documents and recall

Graphical format

Narrative writing

Improved recall

Lit: Source documents and credibility

Source transparency

HSM

Improved credibility

Hypotheses and Research Questions

Recall

• H1: Exposure to a copy of a court document and a traditional news story about that document will increase the reader’s recall of the story when compared to being exposed to a news story alone.

• RQ1: What factors influence recall?

Credibility

• H2: Exposure to a copy of a court document and a traditional news story about that document will increase the reader’s perception of credibility of the story when compared to being exposed to a news story alone.

• RQ1: What factors influence credibility?

Participants in the experiment

Days the online

experiment was

open to participants

Completed the

experiment

Removed for missing data

Removed for prior

knowledge

Used in analysis

Gender

Female

Male71

The

mean

age was

Condition

Treatment

Control77 81

29

Results: Open-ended summaries

“A Jewish man from an American

company was selling information to

another country, Country X. The

FBI caught him by setting up a sting

operation.” Participant 131, control

“Someone from Boston offered to

sell a foreign country secrets from

his company.” Participant 174, control

“Doxer worked for an Internet

technology company in Massachusetts

and offered to sell an undisclosed country

information about confidential matters.

The country got wind of it, told the

United States, and then worked with the

FBI to help build a case against Doxer.” Participant 27, treatment

“A man named Doxer was

accused of committing a crime.

He claims he did nothing

wrong but the authorities, and

the criminal report, say

differently. His mother is also

a ‘terrible person.’” Participant 66, treatment

Results: Recall

Mean proportion SD t p

Control (77) .7217 .26412 -1.652 .101

Treatment (81) .7866 .22714

Participants who answered all recall questions incorrectly removed (N=4)

Control (75) .7410 .23915 -1.872 .063

Treatment (79) .8065 .19144

Participants were asked recall questions about a news story Those who saw the source

document answered on average

questions correctly.

Those who saw ONLY the news story

answered on average

questions correctly.

Independent Sample T-test of Proportion of Recall Questions Correct by Condition

When participants who answered questions correctly were removed from

analysis, those who saw the source document answered percent correctly.

Those who saw the news story only answered percent correctly.

Results: Recall

questions had significance

between conditions What did the person charged with a

crime leave at the “dead drop”? Which agency investigated the crime?

Control

Treatment

Correct

IncorrectControl

Treatment

Correct

Incorrect

Mean SD t p

Control (77) .73 .448

-1.925

.056

Treatment (81) .85 .357

Mean SD t p

Control (77) .58 .496

-3.652

.000

Treatment (81) .84 .369

Results: Credibility

Participants were asked credibility questions

questions had statistical difference between control and treatment

Independent sample T-test of perception of credibility by condition

On a scale of to , participants were asked to rate their perception of the news article.

The average credibility score was . The average trust score was about

the same: . Overall, participants rated it as more credible than not.

Mean SD t p

Control (77) 29.1429 5.89539 .235 .814

Treatment (81) 28.9012 6.92929

Results: Hypotheses

Recall

• H1: Exposure to a copy of a court document and a traditional news story about that document will increase the reader’s recall of the story when compared to being exposed to a news story alone.

Not supported

• Based on these results, there was not enough evidence to support H1.

Credibility

• H2: Exposure to a copy of a court document and a traditional news story about that document will increase the reader’s perception of credibility of the story when compared to being exposed to a news story alone.

Not supported

• Based on these results, there was no evidence to support H2.

Results: Research questions

Race/ethnicity p=.070 Time

p=.023

Story

Interest Recall p=.000, Credibility p=.007

Interaction:

Condition X Story

Interest p=.007

Time p=.016

News

Interest p=.014

Discussion: Recall

HSM

had an effect on recall and not on

credibility. This is the opposite of what

the literature predicted.

Among those who

answered at least recall

question correctly, there

was statistical difference

between conditions. This

may indicate an effect of

source documents on

those who actually read

the news story.

Story

inte

rest R

eca

ll

Mean proportion of recall questions answered

correctly by condition influenced by story interest

Discussion: Credibility

When participants were

presented a story written in

inverted-pyramid style but

lacking any association with a

news organization or

particular author, they

reported that they believed

in and trusted in the

information there.

Providing an official document that

carried with it the names of federal

courts, a federal judge, and a FBI

agent didn’t improve that credibility.

While the use of anonymous sources

harms the credibility of news,

providing extensive details about the

source didn’t improve credibility.

Discussion: Future research?

Why/when does the news provide source documents?

Other types of source documents?

Are certain types of info effected more?

Who chooses to read source documents?

Is the way news credibility is judged changing among young people?

How much source information is needed to be credible?