July 15, 2002, 12:10 PM ET
Online credibility survey
DallasNews.com and affiliates are conducting an online credibility survey that asks, "How credible are online news sources?" It claims to be "the largest online news survey ever undertaken on the credibility of online news sources." Evidently the study's results "will be used by journalists across the country to improve online news services."
I spent some time looking over the questions and was disheartened to find there was no attempt to determine a corrolation between credibility and good Web design; instead, most questions focused on content and usage patterns.
The lack of design questions is disappointing because past studies have shown that Web design can communicate trustworthiness, and credibility can be increased by the use of high-quality graphics. Clearly there's some kind of corrolation there, and it'd be interesting to see whether it extends to news sites.
A question like "Do you find well-designed news sites to be more credible than poorly designed sites?" would have made this survey more credible.
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