You are here: Prostate Cancer > About this site > How we are doing it > How we assess information quality
How do we assess the quality of information?
We used a checklist of questions to assess the quality of the web pages we link to from this site.
Usability Questions:
- Is the site accessible without a login?
- Does the site conform to web Accessibility standards?
- Is the site design clear and transparent?
- Is the site design consistent from one page to another?
- Can users find what they need on the site?
- Is the format of information clear and appropriate for the audience?
Reliability Questions:
- Is it clear who has developed the web site and what their objectives are?
- Does the site report a robust quality control procedure?
- Is the page content checked by an expert?
- Is the page updated regularly?
- Does the page cite relevant sources where appropriate?
This scheme was developed after an extensive literature review on web site and health information quality.
- Read the Search Narrative for this review (PDF, 150k).
- Read our Summary of Key Points from the review, with full bibliography (PDF, 450k).
How are the scores worked out?
We scored each page for each question on a scale from zero to 3 where:
0 = Never
1 = Sometimes
2 = Mostly
3 = Always
We double the score for Reliability and add this to Usability, giving a score of 0 to 48. We shall shortly add a reference table here to show you how this score is converted into a star rating.
Who does the assessments?
All links are assessed by a Minervation staff member. As noted below, we tested the scheme to see if different assessors got the same results. You can read some background information about the assessors here.
Is the scale valid?
We validated the scale by doing a blind, independent comparison of two different assessors’ scores of the same set of sites. This showed excellent inter-rater reliability (P < 0.00001). However, this only shows that the scale is measuring something, not that it definitely measures quality, and we will be carrying out further validation tests in the coming year.
Let us know if you'd like to get involved.
How can I improve my scores?
An ancillary purpose of the project is to help information providers improve the quality of their information. Our two main suggestions for improving scores are:
- Transparency
Our scheme places considerable emphasis on the transparency of methods used to create the information. Make sure your site has a clear statement of how the information was put together, what sources you used to research it, and how it is checked for accuracy. - Clarity
Reading from a computer is different from reading from paper. Help your users to scan information by using subheadings; space the information out, don't use long, dense paragraphs; minimise jargon and avoid complex sentences.
We can provide more details of individual assessments on request.
