NURS 329:Research Methods: Reliable Web Sources

Sometimes, you can judge how reliable website information is by noting the URL ending.

.GOV - refers to a government website.  Reliable.

.EDU - often refers to a reliable educational website.

.ORG - implies a non-profit ORGanization. Approach with skepticism.

.COM - stands for "Commerce" and is used for business. Approach with skepticism.

How to find the good and avoid the bad or ugly: a short guide to tools for rating quality of health information on the internet -- an article by Peter Wilson from BMJ 

Health Literacy from National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM) 

For Professionals:

 

• Health Promotion - World Health Organization
• Quick Health Data Online from  the Office of Women's Health http://www.healthstatus2020.com/index.html 
•  TOXNET Toxicology Data Network from National Library of Medicine
• Health Affairs  At the Intersection of Health, Health Care, and Policy
• MEDSCAPE- Public Health and Prevention
• Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Health - SAMHSA
• Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation - ANA

 

For Consumers/Public:

• MEDLINEPlus 
• TOXTOWN 
• National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
• Surgeon General.gov
• Health and Prevention - Cleveland Clinic

 

Some state specific sources:

• Prevention and Health Promotion - Virginia.gov
• Preventive Health Measures - Health Foundation of South Florida
• What is Prevention- Vermont Dept. of Health
• Preventive Agenda Towards the Healthiest State - New York State
• Minority Health and Health Disparities - Maryland Dept. of Health and Mental Hygine

Global Health

• Global Health Data Exchange  - searchable database from Inst. of Health Metrics and Evaluation, Univ. of Washington
• World Health Organization WHO 

 

Website Evaluation Criteria

Try the SCRAP Test

 

S- Scope

·         What is the depth of the site? Too elementary, too advanced?

·         Does it provide comprehensive coverage or mere compilation of links?

·         Is it relevant to your information needs?

 

C- Currency

·         Is there a date when the site was created or last updated?

·         Are the hyperlinks current?

·         In the absence of a copyright or revision date, can you determine if the information is current?

 

R- Reliability

·         Are the sources documented? Can you verify them?

·         Are the research methods revealed or is the content primarily opinion based? Is it balanced information?

·         Is the content coming from scholarly/peer-reviewed sources?

·         Does it have an unbiased tone?

 

A-Authority

·         Who is the author/publisher/sponsor?

·         What are their credentials/qualifications?

·         What are their organizational affiliations?

·         Is there contact information?

 

P- Purpose/Point of View

·         Why is the information being posted? Who is the target audience? Determine if the site is trying to inform, teach, entertain, advertise, persuade or sell.

·         Is there any bias or do the points of view appear to be objective?

·         Who is sponsoring the website?

o   Consider domains (.com, .edu, .org, .gov, .biz, .net etc.)

o   A tilde (~) in the Web address often indicates a personal Web page.