User engagement with political 'facts' in the context of the fake news phenomenon: an exploration of information behaviour.

Marcella, Rita; Baxter, Graeme; Walicka, Agnieszka

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study that explored human behaviour in response to political ‘facts’ presented online by political parties in Scotland. The study consisted of interactive online interviews with 23 citizens in North-East Scotland, in the run-up to the 2017 UK General Election. Participants demonstrated cognitive and critical responses to facts but little affective reaction. They judged facts swiftly and largely intuitively, providing evidence that facts are frequently consumed, accepted or rejected without further verification processes. Users demonstrated varying levels of engagement with the information they consume, and subject knowledge may influence the extent to which respondents trust facts, in previously unanticipated ways. Users tended to notice facts with which they disagreed and, in terms of prominence, particularly noted and responded to facts which painted extremely negative or positive pictures. Most acknowledged limitations in capacity to interrogate facts, but some were delusionally confident. Relatively little empirical research has been conducted exploring the perceived credibility of political or government information online. It is believed that this, and a companion study, are the first to have specifically investigated the Scottish political arena. This paper presents a new, exploratory Fact Interrogation Model, alongside an expanded Information Quality Awareness Model.

Citation

MARCELLA, R., BAXTER, G. and WALICKA, A. 2019. User engagement with political ‘facts’ in the context of the fake news phenomenon: an exploration of information behaviour. Journal of documentation [online], 75(5), pages 1082-1099. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2018-0180

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 24, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 9, 2019
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2019
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2019
• Journal: Journal of Documentation
• Print ISSN: 0022-0418
• Electronic ISSN: 1758-7379
• Publisher: Emerald
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1082-1099
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2018-0180
• Keywords: Information behaviour; Credibility; Fake news; Political parties; Scotland; Alternative facts
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/227999