Some Preliminary Results from a Longitudinal Study of Chinese User Perceptions of Internet Information Quality: A Research in Progress

摘要

There are an estimated 591 million users of the Internet in China, and the number has grown rapidly in recent years. As the environment in which people use the Internet changes over time, and as young people have different formative experiences with the Internet over time, users' perceptions of the information they access through the Internet as well as their perceptions of the information they access in more traditional ways may shift. This study applies a longitudinal approach to an examination of users' perceptions of the information quality of both Internet-based and traditional text sources of information. A survey assessing fifteen dimensions of information quality was administered to Chinese college students at the beginning and end of a five-year span of time. Preliminary results find changes in users' perceptions of the information quality dimensions of accuracy, objectivity, completeness, appropriate amount, ease of understanding, accessibility, and access security for Internet-based information and of the information quality dimensions of objectivity and value added for traditional text sources of information.