For this assignment, we first had to read a very brief note about the proper spelling of the word “judgment”. Following this, we were given a list of 15 articles, each examining an aspect of judgment and decision making on the Internet. We chose one to read, and then had to make a discussion board post about it, discussing what was studied, why it was studied, what was learned, if the conclusions make sense, and if I have personal experience with judgment and decision making in this area of Internet use.
The discussion board post I made for this assignment accurately summarizes my thoughts and reactions to the article. I included the points I made in my post below.
The article I read was titled “Trustworthiness of online beer ratings as a source of social information”, studied by Niemela and Dingemanse. The researchers studied the relationship between socially acquired information and whether it is biased, in the context of online beer ratings.
The reason that the researchers were studying this was because it is certainly true that people always use the internet to acquire social information, but that social information can possibly be biased and may be based on factors of conformism. When making decisions as a consumer, it is important to choose based on quality of the product, rather than popularity of the product.
From this study, the researchers learned that the majority of the variation in the beer ratings was due to beer characteristics (65%), some by the identity of the rater (9.5%), and a small portion by temporal effects (0.5%), and that only a quarter of the variance went unexplained. In more understandable terms, this means that conformism was not a impactful bias. This implies that online beer ratings are a solid source of social information, and aren’t very plagued by biases.
The results of the study caught me by surprise a bit, I didn’t expect that to be the outcome of the study going in. However, after reading through the whole study, the researchers conclusions totally make sense. Based on the results they received, it is very plausible to conclude that for the most part, online beer ratings are relatively unbiased and a pretty good source of social information.
Honestly, when it comes to online judgement and decision making regarding beer ratings, I do not have much personal experience. I recently turned 21, and the beer I have bought so far has been based on what is cheap, rather than how others rate the beer online or offline. However, with other foods and drinks, I have looked up online what people think of them, and they have influenced my decisions to purchase them or not. So, I do rely on online social information as a consumer, just not in direct relation to this particular article.
Reflecting on this assignment, the first thing that stuck out to me was the choice we were given. We got to choose between a list of 15 articles to read, which was great, because it allowed me to examine something I was interested in. I found it humorous that there was a study on beer reviews, so it made me more excited to read about it. So, just giving students the choice can sometimes lead to greater engagement and enjoyment during assignments!
Additionally, I like the things it asks us to answer in our discussion board post. First, it asks about what was studied, why it was studied, what was learned. Answering these types of questions ensures that I understand how the study was conducted, and can accurately regurgitate what I learned from reading through the study.
After this, we were asked to state if the conclusions make sense, and if I have personal experience with judgment and decision making in this area of Internet use. This was nice, because there is no right or wrong answer, and allowed me to think about how the material connected to me on a more personal level. Having this mix of objective information and personal information is a great combination.
I also appreciated the small amount of steps going into this assignment. Although it takes awhile to read an entire scientific paper and answer questions about it, it was nice to know that that was all I had to do. It allowed me to remain more composed and focused throughout the assignment. It is much more reassuring than when we have to complete like 20 different steps for one assignment.
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