Abstract
This study investigated whether accessing conflicting claims in other documents by means of hyperlinks embedded within currently read documents may facilitate conflict detection and source-content integration. Norwegian undergraduates (n = 85) read multiple conflicting documents on a controversial health-related issue, with half of the conflicting claims across documents hyperlinked and the other half not. Moreover, half of the participants were told that they would get more information by clicking on the links (weak prompting condition) while the other half were additionally told that clicking on the links was necessary to get a more complete understanding of the issue (strong prompting condition). Results indicated that the extent to which participants accessed conflicting claims in other documents via the hyperlinks was positively related to their detection of cross-document conflicts as well as their integration of source-content information. A mediational analysis indicated that conflict detection mediated the effect of accessing conflicting claims via the hyperlinks on source-content integration. No relationship was found between the prompting condition and participants’ selection of the hyperlinks. The theoretical significance as well as the practical value of our findings are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
Funding for this research was provided by Grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (EDU2017-87626-P) and the European Social Fund to Pablo Delgado and Ladislao Salmerón, and by a travel Grant from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology COST Action IS1404 E-READ to Pablo Delgado. Elisabeth Stang Lund and Ivar Bråten were funded by Grant 237981/H20 from the Research Council of Norway. We would like to thank Guillermo Gómez for his help in programming the website used as experimental materials.
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Appendix: Title and source information for each of the four texts
Appendix: Title and source information for each of the four texts
Lack of light causes depression |
Psychologist Anita Lund |
Association for Mental Health |
Helsenorge.no* |
2016 |
Too little daylight leads to sleeplessness |
Lecturer Kristin Iversen |
Norwegian School of Sports Sciences |
Olympiatoppen.no** |
2013 |
Sunbathing causes cancer |
Chief physician Hilde Dahl |
The Norwegian Cancer Association |
Journal of Medicine |
2014 |
Vitamin D is important for the body |
Nutritionist Nina Sørensen |
Norwegian Food Safety Authority |
Journal of Food and Health |
2015 |
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Delgado, P., Stang Lund, E., Salmerón, L. et al. To click or not to click: investigating conflict detection and sourcing in a multiple document hypertext environment. Read Writ 33, 2049–2072 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10030-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10030-8