Marketing Intelligence MAR 3641

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Marketing IntelligenceMAR 3641

• Evaluating Sources of Information

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Critical Thinking Mistakes
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Evaluating Published Sources

• Type of document
• Primary
• Secondary (qualification of data source)
• Purpose
• Self-promotion?
• Propaganda?
• Balance
• Two-sided accounts
• One-sided sources should not be used as sole
  source

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Evaluating Published Sources

• Bias
• The opinionated source
• Ex pg. 283 in Find It Fast
• Variety needed
• Logical and well organized
• Consistency
• Organized thought out
• Data based on polls and surveys
• Partisan sponsorship
• Sampling techniques
• Loaded questions and leading placement
• Complex, vague, sensitive and memory questions
• Misleading conclusions

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Evaluating ExpertsSigns of a Good Source

• Peer recognition
• Referrals
• Repetition
• Attentiveness

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Evaluating ExpertsSources to Beware Of

• Bias
• Overly narrow
• Out-of-date
• Too-far-removed
• Unaccountable
• Secondary source
• Confusing

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Criteria 1 Accuracy of Web Resources

• How reliable and free from error is the
  information?
• Are there editors and fact checkers?

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Accuracy of Web Resources

• Almost anyone can publish on the Web
• Many Web resources not verified by editors and/or
  fact checkers
• Web standards to ensure accuracy not fully
  developed

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Scholarly Publication Process
Idea Conceptualization
Literature Search
Research/Study
Project Report
Internal Review
Conference Paper
Re-write to formal paper
Submit to Journal
Peer Review
Revise
Publish
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Web Publishing Process
Idea Conceptualization
Literature Search
Research/Study
Project Report
Post on Web
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Criteria 2 Authority of Web Resources

• What are the authors qualifications for writing
  on the subject?
• How reputable is the publisher?
• Ex Source
• Ex Personal Pages

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Authority of Web Resources

• Often difficult to determine authorship of Web
  resources
• If authors name listed, his/her qualifications
  frequently absent
• Publisher responsibility often
• not indicated

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Criteria 3 Objectivity of Web Resources

• Is the information presented with a minimum of
  bias?
• To what extent is the information trying to sway
  the opinion of the audience?
• Pure info or ad content?

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• Web often functions as a
• virtual soapbox
• Goals/aims of persons
• or groups presenting
• material often
• not clearly stated

WEB SOAP
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Criteria 4 Currency of Web Resources

• Dates not always included on Web pages
• If included, a date may have various meanings

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Criteria 5 Coverage of Web Resources

• Web coverage may differ from print or other media
  coverage
• Often hard to determine extent of Web coverage
• Missing data
• Author expertise, sponsoring institution, contact
  information, date
• Misleading and confusing data

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Additional Challenges Presented by Web Resources
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Challenge Marketing-Oriented Web Pages

• In other media, there usually are clear
• visual and/or audio distinctions between
  advertising and information

The Sound Off
And Now a Word From Our Sponsors
AD
ARTICLE
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• On the Web, distinctions between advertising and
  information can become extremely blurred
• Ex White House information

Information
Ads
WEB
Entertainment
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Coping Strategy Marketing-Oriented Web Pages
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Challenge Use of Hypertext Links

• Quality of Web pages linked to original Web page
  may vary

POOR QUALITY
HIGH QUALITY
WEB PAGE
WEB PAGE
LINKED TO
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Coping Strategy
Web Page
Web Page
A
B
Linked To
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Challenge
Instability of Web Pages
User may not be able to refer back to a Web page
Web Pages May Move or Disappear Without Notice
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Coping Strategy Instability of Web Pages
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Coping Strategy Web Pages Susceptible to
Alteration
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Challenge

• Search Engines Can Retrieve Web Pages Out of
  Context

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Coping Strategy
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Web Page Evaluation Procedure
WEB PAGE

• Step 1 Identify type of page
• Step 2 Use appropriate checklist
• Step 3 Based on checklist
• criteria, determine
• relative quality of page

CHECKLIST
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Step 1 Identify the Type of Web Page

• Advocacy
• Business/Marketing
• Informational
• News
• Personal
• Entertainment

?
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Step 2 Use the Appropriate Checklist
CHECKLIST
Answer Questions With Yes or No
1.yes 2.no 3.yes 4.yes 5.no
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Step 3 Based on the checklist criteria,
determine the relative quality of the Web page

• The greater number of checklist questions
  answered yes, the more likely the page is of
  higher informational quality.

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Conclusion

• Web evaluation techniques are in development
• Technology is outpacing ability to create
  standards and guidelines
• Establishing evaluation procedures will be an
  ongoing evolutionary process