Misinformed by Algorithm: How Search Engine Results Can Lead to Biased Student Writing

• In Event: 54.066 - Using Digital Media to Inform Learning, Pedagogy, and Assessment

Abstract

The public's primary form of science education is via the medium of search engines, but while the Internet increases the public's access to scientific information it also increases access to misinformation. The authors of this abstract pose the following question: In what ways might a Search Engine Result Page, or SERP, interact with cognitive biases to influence a student's perception about the usefulness of information? Using a population-based survey experiment with sixty participants, this study found that students created biased writing that is dependent on how information is presented in a SERP. The authors argue that when search engines undervalue the importance of diversity in information, students will reflect this bias implicitly in their writing.

Authors

• Alamir Novin, The University of British Columbia

• Eric Meyers, The University of British Columbia