OSF wiki, files, and preregistration available here.
Background
Our time is characterized by an unprecedented abundance of information available online. Even though this opens up a myriad of possibilities for people to gather vast knowledge on virtually any topic, recognizing the truthfulness of information online is not straightforward.
Mastering skills in critical thinking could help the general public to efficiently navigate through the current infodemic. Critical thinking skills could indeed represent the foundational tools to build information literacy, thus allowing people to effectively evaluate and interpret information online.
That said, the goal of training critical thinking is an arduous one, as first and foremost there’s no clear consensus on the definition of critical thinking and there is no systematic measure of which skills are inherently important to train it. To our knowledge, no study attempted to rigorously identify, characterize and quantify the minimum set of critical thinking skills necessary to navigate through the multitude of daily information online.
Aims
The aim of this study is to evaluate whether critical thinking skills, based on a good understanding of the concepts of causation and correlation; independent data and replicates; reproducibility; credibility of sources; experimental control; and significance; are important for people to build scientific information literacy (i.e. to recognize the truthfulness and accuracy of information online). The main aim of this study is to determine whether a simple intervention tool designed to teach people the aforementioned skills, briefly and effectively, could improve their ability to recognize fake versus real information online, as well as accurate versus inaccurate (misinformation) information online.
Main Research Questions
Does understanding the concepts of causation and correlation, independent data and replicates, reproducibility, credibility of sources, experimental control, and significance, correlate with an increased ability to identify fakeness and misinformation online?
Does an improved understanding of these concepts support people’s ability to recognize fakeness and misinformation online?
Design
This is a randomized controlled trial in which respondents are divided in two arms:
- Control group
- Intervention group
Before the intervention both arms are tested for their skills in:
- Critical thinking skills (i.e.: the concepts of causation and correlation, independent data and replicates, reproducibility, credibility of sources, experimental control, and significance)
- Misinformation recognition
- Fakeness recognition
The intervention consists in a set of mini video lectures explaining the concepts detailed above (critical thinking skills).
After the intervention both arms are re-tested for their skills in:
- Critical thinking skills (i.e.: the concepts of causation and correlation, independent data and replicates, reproducibility, credibility of sources, experimental control, and significance)
- Misinformation recognition
- Fakeness recognition