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Swedish teenagers’ difficulties and abilities to determine digital news credibility

Thomas Nygren
Thomas Nygren
 and 
Mona Guath
Mona Guath
   | Feb 19, 2019
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Published Online: Feb 19, 2019
Page range: 23 - 42
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2019-0002
Keywords
© 2019 Thomas Nygren et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Figure 1

Predicted probabilities of a correct answer on the comment on incomes as a function of internet info reliability and credibility importanceComment: The predicted probabilities of a correct answer on the comment on incomes as a function of internet info reliability (x-axis) and credibility importance (legend). The higher the ratings on credibility importance, the higher the probability of a correct answer, whereas a higher rating on internet info reliability was associated with a lower probability of a correct answer.
Predicted probabilities of a correct answer on the comment on incomes as a function of internet info reliability and credibility importanceComment: The predicted probabilities of a correct answer on the comment on incomes as a function of internet info reliability (x-axis) and credibility importance (legend). The higher the ratings on credibility importance, the higher the probability of a correct answer, whereas a higher rating on internet info reliability was associated with a lower probability of a correct answer.

Estimates of an additive logistic regression model for correct/incorrect answer on fukushima, with coefficients denoting the log odds of answering correct for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the log odds of answering correct for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −2.0857 4.0026 −0.521
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd 2.213 2.131 1.038
Secondary 3rd −0.337 1.614 −0.209
Program SS Baseline
Other 0.642 1.582 0.406
EC 1.246 1.982 0.628
AS 3.010 1.190 2.530*
NA 3.789 2.240 1.691(*)
Sourcing in school 0.0208 0.202 0.103
Credibility importance 0.468 0.414 1.131
Internet info reliability −0.131 0.568 −0.230
Fact-checking ability 0.410 0.439 0.934
Language home Yes Baseline
No −1.551 0.993 −1.562

Estimates of an additive poisson regression model for incidence of radio as preferred media format, with coefficients denoting the expected log count for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the expected log count for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −0.868 1.401 −0.620
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd −0.588 0.577 −1.019
Secondary 3rd 0.172 0.404 0.426
Sourcing in school 0.0990 0.101 0.984
Credibility importance 0.543 0.229 2.368 *
Internet info reliability −0.0687 0.248 −0.276
Fact-checking ability −0.687 0.224 −3.060 **
Language home Yes Baseline
No −0.0453 0.376 −0.121
Party score −0.278 0.690 −0.402
Gender Other identity Baseline
Girl −0.157 0.585 −0.268
Boy −0.608 0.647 −0.940

Estimates of an additive logistic regression model for correct/incorrect answer on racism, with coefficients denoting the log odds of answering correct for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the log odds of answering correct for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −2.005 3.679 −0.545
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd 3.178 2.365 1.344
Secondary 3rd 0.119 2.0185 −0.059
Program SS Baseline
Other 0.858 1.737 0.446
EC 1.0355 2.321 −1.256
AS 2.882 1.280 2.251*
NA 1.995 2.340 0.853
Sourcing in school 0.263 0.152 1.729 (*)
Credibility importance −0.295 0.356 −0.827
Internet info reliability −0.598 0.431 −1.388
Fact-checking ability −0.0434 0.380 −0.114
Language home Yes Baseline
No 0.299 0.649 0.460
Party score −0.658 1.225 −0.538
Gender Other identity Baseline
Girl 2.415 1.218 1.983*
Boy 1.652 1.295 1.259

Estimates of an additive logistic regression model for correct/incorrect answer on income, with coefficients denoting the log odds of answering correct for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the log odds of answering correct for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept 2.106 2.609 0.807
Sourcing in school −0.0521 0.120 −0.261
Credibility importance 1.100 0.421 2.391*
Internet info reliability −1.556 0.485 −2.382*
Fact-checking ability 0.0412 0.465 0.009
Language home Yes Baseline
No −0.204 0.755 −0.271
Party score −0.650 1.291 −0.504

Estimates of an additive logistic regression model for correct/incorrect answer on smoking, with coefficients denoting the log odds of answering correct for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the log odds of answering correct for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept 2.579 2.380 1.084
Sourcing in school 0.109 0.146 0.748
Credibility importance 0.570 0.344 1.655(*)
Internet info reliability 0.228 0.372 0.612
Fact-checking ability −1.280 0.490 −2.613**
Language home Yes Baseline
No 0.345 0.604 0.571
Party score −0.210 0.977 −0.215

Estimates of an additive poisson regression model for incidences of international news, with coefficients denoting the expected log count for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the expected log count for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −3.488 1.914 −1.822
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd −0.110 0.611 −0.181
Secondary 3rd 0.488 0.540 0.904
Primary 9th −1.138 1.0761 −1.058
Sourcing in school −0.135 0.115 −1.172
Credibility importance 0.406 0.266 1.528
Internet info reliability 0.472 0.301 1.567
Fact-checking ability 0.108 0.294 0.367
Language home Yes Baseline
No −0.936 0.443 −2.114 *
Party score 0.296 0.801 0.369
Gender Other identity Baseline
Girl −0.334 0.834 −0.401
Boy −0.500 0.848 −0.590

Overview of questions and measured constructs in the online survey

Reported and measured construct Question
Background variables Gender (girl/boy/other identity)Upper-secondary school programme (year & programme)Language at home (foreign language/Swedish)Political party sympathies (1 or more parties)

Since participants were allowed to choose more than one party, we calculated a normalized mean score that spans from 0–1, where 0 represents the most right-winged party (SD) and 1 represents the most left-winged party (V). All parties in between those are given a score based on their position (0–7) on the spectrum (SD-V) divided by 7.
Self-reported categories Items in self-report
Preferred news Preferred news format(s) (e.g. paper news, radio etc.)Preferred news source (s) (e.g. local newspaper, evening paper etc.)
Self-rated abilities Source criticism on the Internet (fact-checking ability)Finding information on the Internet (search ability)
Information credibility Importance of news credibility (credibility importance)Reliability of information on the internet (info reliability)
Sourcing in education Source critical evaluation in education (sourcing in education)
Categories of civic online reasoning Test-items
Detecting sponsored material (sourcing) Screenshot from evening paper 1 (Aftonbladet)Screenshot from evening paper 2 (Expressen)Screenshot from IT journal (Techworld)
Comparing articles (corroboration) Two articles about weight loss (weight loss)Two articles about the government’s policy on racism (racism)
Scrutinizing comments and images (evidence) Manipulated photograph of a smoking girl (smoking)Article about the government’s energy goals (energy goals)False information about climate change (climate change)Reader’s comment on incomes (income)Manipulated photograph on daisies in Fukushima (Fukushima)

Media format and media sources that were measured in the survey. The youths indicated what format and sources they used when consuming news; they could indicate multiple formats and sources.

Media format Media source
Paper format Local news
Radio National news
TV Evening paper
Mobile phone Public service radio
Computer Public service TV
Tablet International news
Social media

Estimates of an additive poisson regression model for incidences of public service tv, with coefficients denoting the expected log count for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the expected log count for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −3.238 1.268 −2.553 *
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd −0.243 0.445 −0.584
Secondary 3rd −0.106 0.324 −0.744
Sourcing in school −0.0615 0.0841 −0.731
Credibility importance 0.505 0.0841 2.595 **
Internet info reliability −0.281 0.204 −1.435
Fact-checking ability 0.198 0.221 0.897
Language home Yes Baseline
No 0.728 0.374 1.949 (*)
Party score 0.268 0.506 0.531

Estimates of an additive poisson regression model for number of correct answers on expressen, with coefficients denoting the expected log count for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the expected log count for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with search ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept 2.221 0.509 4.363***
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd −0.622 0.404 −1.537
Secondary 3rd −0.543 0.358 −1.514
Program SS Baseline
Other −0.293 0.336 −0.872
EC −0.503 0.400 −1.256
AS −0.111 0.163 −0.677
NA −0.513 0.394 −1.300
Sourcing in school 0.0186 0.0242 0.770
Credibility importance −0.00198 0.0469 −0.042
Internet info reliability −0.0448 0.0590 −0.759
Search ability −0.0682 0.0612 −1.116
Language home Yes Baseline
No 0.223 0.0937 2.378 *
Party score 0.00372 0.164 0.023

Estimates of an additive poisson regression model for incidences of public service radio, with coefficients denoting the expected log count for a unit increase of the ordinal variables and the expected log count for each category compared with the baseline category for the categorical variables. Search ability was omitted due to perfect correlation with fact-checking ability

Parameter Estimate (expected log count) SE (standard error) Z-ratio
Intercept −2.162 1.780 −1.215
Form Secondary 1st Baseline
Secondary 2nd −0.927 0.794 −1.169
Secondary 3rd −0.267 0.485 −0.552
Sourcing in school 0.163 0.137 1.193
Credibility importance 0.452 0.274 1.652 (*)
Internet info reliability −0.0670 0.283 −0.225
Fact-checking ability 0.565 0.283 −1.993*
Language home Yes Baseline
No 0.554 0.529 1.049
Party score 0.133 0.892 0.149
Gender Other identity Baseline
Girl −0.287 0.678 −0.423
Boy −0.899 0.772 −1.164
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