Social Studies Teaching Program
Examination Thesis, 15 HE Credits, Advanced Level Submitted: 23/02/2021
Daniel Hernández Guerrero Supervisor: Per-Anders Svärd
Examiner: Cecilia Arensmeier
Rethinking Source Criticism
Towards the development of an analytical model for evaluation of sources in times of mass information and fake news
Abstract
This thesis discusses source criticism from a critical perspective which encompasses its challenges, demands and possibilities for teaching practice. The questions guiding the core of this research are the following: 1) What differentiates people’s activities in the process of evaluating sources? 2) What
characterizes an effective practice in critical evaluation of sources? 3) Which criteria, factors and strategies might be important to consider in order to have a successful source critical methodology that promotes the improvement of critical thinking when analysing information and news?
The studied materials include data from one survey and 54 semi-structured interviews. The interviews, analysed by using a methodology based on Grounded Theory, led to the development of a concept, critical source criticism (CSC), which define a broad perspective for the analysis of sources, and a related theoretical model (the CSC-model) aimed to be used for didactical purposes.
The outcomes from this research suggest that different forms and levels of knowledge in history and social studies (in theory and practice), have a critical impact on the way we interact with information. The results also suggest that the combinations of theories and methodologies, alongside an emphasis on pluralism and multiperspectivity, can turn source criticism into an effective practice to achieve several educational goals. Subsequently, these results, are considered in the development of the proposed model in this thesis.
The CSC-model developed in this study could be suitable for the analysis of information such as news, in planning of source-critical based teaching and in source critical discussions. I argue that this
methodological structure, can be applied to facilitate the development of critical thinking, as well as other skills and abilities essential for democratic participation.
Keywords: Democracy; didactics; social studies; civics, digitalisation; social media; news; fake news;
critical source criticism; evaluation of sources; source criticism; critical thinking; journalism; pluralism; multiperspectivity; critical literacy; narratives; history; historical consciousness; political awareness; källkritik; crítica de fuentes.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ... 1
1.1 Problem formulation and contextualization ... 2
1.2 Disposition ... 3
2. Previous research ... 5
2.1 Summary of previous research ... 13
3. Methodology and a theory-developing approach ... 15
3.1 Methodological strategies for the theoretical development ... 15
3.2 Methods for data collection and source critical discussion ... 18
3.3 Ethical considerations ... 21
4. Starting analysis: our perceptions about media and our own source critical skills ... 22
4.1 Critical source criticism (CSC) as a concept ... 24
4.2 Summary ... 25
5. Source criticism in action ... 26
5.1 Factors with a positive effect on the practice of source criticism ... 27
5.2 New criteria with a positive effect on the practice of source criticism ... 30
5.3 Strategies related to search-criticism as seen through this study ... 32
5.4 Summary ... 33
6. A didactical model for critical source criticism ... 34
6.1 The CSC-model as a tool for the critical analysis of sources ... 35
6.2 The CSC-model as a didactical support for lesson planning ... 36
6.3 Source critical-based teaching ... 37
6.3.1 The CSC-model as a map for source evaluation and discussions in the classroom ... 38
6.4 Summary. ... 39
7. Results ... 40
7.1 Discussion of results ... 40
7.2 Final discussion and conclusions ... 41
Source and literature list ... 45
Appendix 1. Chart of the critical source criticism model (CSC-model) ... 51
Appendix 2. CSC-modellens diagram och konceptens sammanfattning på svenska ... 52
Appendix 3. Sumario en español: Enfoque crítico de la crítica de fuentes/ Modelo-CSC ... 55
Appendix 4 -13. ... 58
DIAGRAMS AND TABLES Figure 1: A model for critical source criticism: The CSC-model ... 35
Table 1 Respondents self-perceptions being source critical ... 22
Table 2 Respondents self-perceptions identifying Fake News ... 22
Table 3 Respondents’ confidence in Newspapers ... 23
Acknowledgement
After five years of studies at Örebro University and approximately two years of work with this research and a previous study related to it, I want to express my most sincere gratitude to all the university personnel associated with my academical education. I am especially grateful to my supervisors and to everyone involved in the discussions of my projects. Your criticism and advice have an important impact in both these projects, and the acquired knowledge will follow me in the continuation of my academic career.
There are many other people to whom I am immensely grateful for their collaboration in this thesis. Nevertheless, ethical reasons and the methodology used in the research process intended to guarantee the anonymity of the interviewees, bind me to confidentiality. That restrains me from publicly thanking by name many people who have collaborated with me for the completion of my projects. For this reason, I have decided to thank everyone: interviewees, survey respondents, contacts, proof-readers, and all who have offered criticism or advice. Many, many thanks!
Daniel E. Hernández Guerrero. Örebro; 23 February 2021.
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1. Introduction
The ability to evaluate information and sources is vital in current society. It is also crucial to education, not least in civic education and subjects such as social studies. In Scandinavia, concepts derived from the German historiographical concept Quellenkritik – literally meaning ‘source criticism’, – are based on four traditional criteria: authenticity, bias, time and dependence, and has come to dominate the educational discussion in this respect.1 The equivalent concept in Swedish, Källkritik, maintains the traditional criteria.2 Although, fruitful in several respects, the main argument of this thesis is that these criteria are insufficient for
analyses of information and news in the context of a multidisciplinary subject like social studies, which aims, at its core, to analyse among others, issues of power relations, conflicts and diversity.
Source critical methodology for social studies as a teaching subject is nearly as new as the subject itself,3 however, it has produced nuanced concepts and strategies that indeed are advances in the evaluation of information. Many of the advances are strategies for information searching known as search criticism,4 while others are oriented towards the didactics of source criticism intended for the improvement of critical thinking.5 To the discussion about source criticism, a general approach to education, known as critical literacy, must be added because it can provide theoretical and empirical evidence for research and improvement of source critical practices.
Despite efforts in our educational systems to improve the source critical abilities of students, different studies indicate that we have not been successful in this matter.6 Effective source criticism entails the consideration of different factors and requires nuanced strategies, methods and didactics. The field could benefit from more research and development. Thomas Nygren expressed, for example, in 2018 that “[t]he lack of evidence-based research is clear, and it is central to link the teaching practice to experimental data.”7 The ongoing digital revolution and the dynamics of education as a discipline are nowadays stimulating new research.8
With the above in mind, this study aims to conduct a critical discussion about source criticism and is attempting to identify what can be suitable to use in practice. The analysis of 54 semi-structured interviews with people actively involved in source critical activities led to the development of a main concept: critical source criticism (CSC), and a related theoretical tool, the CSC-model. The model in question is intended to increase effectiveness of source critical practices, thereby adding to the improvement of the cognitive-process that this activity implies.9 The CSC-model can be used as a support structure both in educational lesson planning and in source critical analysis and discussions.
1 Ryan Hester (2020), Historical Research: Theory and Methods. ED Thech Press. UK., p. 215: “The Danish word ‘kildelkritik’ like the Norwegian word ‘kildekritikk’ and the Swedish word
‘källkritik’ derive from the German ‘Quellenkritik’ and is closely associated to the German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1866).”
2 See for example in the Swedish case, the relevance of the concepts of ‘authenticity’, ‘bias’, ‘time’ and ‘dependence’ which are considered the main criteria for source criticism in Göran Leth
& Torsten Thurén (2000), Källkritik för Internet [Electronic recourse], Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar, Stockholm; Three criterion, of the aforementioned, are still considered to compose the main criteria in 2021 by the Swedish Nationalencyklopedin (NE): Källkritik, Nationalencykloped,(Retrieved: 2021-01-17). (Original source in Swedish).
3 Magnus Persson (2018), Uppfinningen av ett skolämne. Nordidactica. Journal of Humanities and Social Science Education, 8 (2018: 4), 160-183.
4 Helena Francke and Olof Sundin (2018), Kritisk användning av nätet, Källkritik och nya publiceringsformer, modul four, [Electronic recourse], Skolverket.
5 Se for example: Skolforskningsinstitutet (2020), Kritiskt tänkande och källkritik – undervisning i samhällskunskap. Systematisk översikt 2020:03, Solna; Thomas Nygren (2018), Digital källkritik
i nyhetsflöden och undervisning. In Medie-och informationskunnighet (MIK) i den digitala tidsåldern: En demokratifråga-Kartläggning, analys, reflektioner (pp. 63–67); Francke and Sundin (2018).
6 Thomas Nygren & Mona Guath (2018), Mixed Digital Messages: The Ability to Determine News Credibility among Swedish Teenagers. International Association for Development of the Information
Society; Sarah McGrew, Joel Breakstone, Teresa Ortega, Mark Smith & Sam Wineburg (2018), Can Students Evaluate Online Sources? Learning From Assessments of Civic Online Reasoning, Theory & Research in Social Education, 46:2, 165-193.
7 Thomas Nygren (2018). (My translation). 8 Se for example: Skolforskningsinstitutet (2020).
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A survey was carried out to collect data for this thesis. This material contributes to the identification and discussion of two challenges – 1) our trust in media sources, and 2) our dependence on media to access information– these factors are important to consider, both in the analysis of information and in teaching towards the development of source critical skills and critical thinking among students.10 By using a methodology mainly based on Grounded Theory, this study identified several factors which have impact on the activity of source criticism, as well as additional criteria and strategies suitable to its practice. The results confirm how important it is to manage historical knowledge and the essential role knowledge in social studies has for the understanding and analysis of information. Besides the traditional criteria, and the findings in the analysed material in this study, the CSC approach is open to incorporate developments from other research.
Beyond the identification of fake news, the CSC-model is expected to facilitate the development of different knowledges and skills. The model, which considers the fields involved in production and diffusion of information, is intended to identify pluralism of voices, different perspectives and actors involved in conflicts. The CSC-model contemplates then, the existence of narratives, discourses and propaganda, considering historical knowledge, and the use of theories and methods from social sciences, taking attention in sociological, historical, and geopolitical contexts when analysing information and news.
1.1 Problem formulation and contextualization
Nowadays widespread reporting of information, news and fake news demands the development of nuanced ways to analyse information. The civics subject in different countries – in Sweden – courses of social studies as a subject, are mainly intended to provide knowledge and strategies for the improvement of students’ abilities and skills in connection with democratic and critical approaches to information.11 In Sweden for example, despite the main intention explained above being clear in educational policy documents,12 leaves room for different interpretations. Exhortations about being source critical and consider different perspectives are not accompanied by a wider discussion of the why, neither about the how questions in didactical terms.13 The first subject is explained indicating that it aims to educate critical citizens. The discussion about how to do it is left to the instruction and professionalism of educators who generally endorses the importance of source criticism, but in the end stay focused on traditional criteria. Moreover, regarding the consideration of different perspectives, it, can be limited to searching few stablished media or fact-providers.14 It, becomes thereby important to highlight, that source criticism in relation to social studies, requires much more than the traditional approach.
In the Swedish high school system only in a few cases do the combination of subjects in education make it easier for teachers to combine strategies, methodologies and theories necessary in the analysis of
10 Robert H. Ennis (2018), Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: A Vision. Topoi, 37(1), p. 165–184.
11 Skolverket (2011a), Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool and school-age educare, revised 2018 [Electronic recourse], Skolverket, Stockholm; or the original version in Swedish:
Skolverket (2011b), Läroplan examensmål och gymnasiegemensamma ämnen för gymnasieskola 2011, Skolverket, Stockholm; Skolverket (2019), Läroplan för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011: revised 2019, Skolverket (Sixth edition), Stockholm.
12 Ibid. 13 Ibid.
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conflicts, which is one of the most frequent reports in news. Let’s take, for example, the case of a unique advanced program in the Swedish school system.15 Besides the mentioned program, the diversity and characteristics of courses in regular programs, in fundamental subjects such as social studies and history, make the elaboration of didactical strategies difficult for source critical analysis of e.g., news regarding political conflicts in other countries. For example, only courses in history and social studies 2a, and respective 3 are designed for the study of theories and methodologies.16 Some courses such as history 1a only provide facts and other courses such as history 2b are culturally profile oriented.17 Moreover, the use of traditional criteria does not imply explicit considerations about sociological or historical contexts, nor about geopolitical relations when analysing, for example, news. Instead, these considerations become optional for teachers to make.
In those cases, in which different courses do not provide the guarantee for efficient practice of source criticism, or in any democratic country in which the education policy documents allow, as in the Swedish case, 18 the independence of teachers, in terms of formulating structure, teaching content, using procedures and methods, then becomes important the use of support-structures to facilitate the teaching work in relation to the practice of source criticism.
Even when source criticism is considered by the educational field as important in the development of critical thinking, there is evidence of students having difficulties analysing information.19 This situation indicates the need to rethink the methodology and criteria used for source criticism and implies that research and development of tools for information analysis should consider approaches beyond the traditional ones. This study is based on the questions below in order to collect, analyse and discuss
information regarding source criticism and is aimed to develop a didactical model for source criticism with a critical approach.
- What differentiates people’s activities in the process of evaluating sources? - What characterizes an effective practice in the critical evaluation of sources?
- Which criteria, factors and strategies might be important to consider in order to have a successful source critical methodology that promotes the improvement of critical thinking when analysing information and news?
1.2 Disposition
This thesis is divided into seven sections. The first one aims to present the introduction, the objective and the studied issue. The second section presents a discussion about previous research. In section three, I discuss the employed methodology. Section four is the first chapter of the analysis in which results of the
15 Daniel Hernández Guerrero (2019),Den mångfaldiga och mångkulturella medvetenheten: En studie om gymnasieskolans förutsättningar och historieundervisningens möjligheter att
utveckla elevers demokratiska kompetens, (Dissertation). p. 42: “[I am referring to a program consisting] of 300 credits which includes English 7, international relations, and international economics […], the social science program which include geography 1, history 2a, religion studies 2, and social studies 2 and 3. [Moreover other subjects] in social science, [the students have] 200 credits of freely chosen subjects, […] [subjects as for example] sociology or gender studies.” (My translation).
16 Ibid., p. 33–35; See even: Skolverket, (2020), Social studies, [Electronic recourse], Skolverket. (Retrieved 08/11/2020). 17 Ibid.
18 Skolverket (2011a); Skolverket (2011b); Skolverket (2019). 19 See footnote 6.
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survey are presented followed by a discussion about challenges for source criticism and the need of a critical approach. Section five is a chapter titled: “Source criticism in action” which discusses the
participants’ strategies applied to be source critical as identified in this study. This section identifies factors and criteria as well as strategies, that will be the base of the model presented in the next section. In section six, the proposed didactical model for critical source criticism is presented and explained. Section seven is aimed to present the results of the analysed material as well as the final discussion.
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2. Previous research
The concepts Evaluation of Sources and Source Criticism can be understood as equivalent in meaning. By definition, both refer to the analysis or evaluation of the quality and reliability of sources. The modern meaning of source criticism, a concept grounded in German historiography, is directly related to scientific methodology and has become the dominant concept used in Scandinavia. Considering the scientific tradition connected to this concept, as well as the context in which this study is conducted, I will
henceforth use source criticism as a main concept in this study and use the concept ‘evaluation of sources’ as its synonym.
Source criticism, as a scientific methodology, started in the 1830’s in conjunction with the
transformation of the historiographical field, led by historian Leopold Von Ranke’s interest in facts. J. D. Braw expressed in an article about this revolution that it is important to understand the vison and
conception of Ranke in its own nature, explaining that: “the driving force of [Ranke’s] revision was religious and, that subsequently, an understanding of Ranke’s religious nature is vital to understand any interpretation of his historical revision”.20 According to Braw’s analysis, Ranke has a holistic perception and considered that everything was connected:
[Ranke’s] ‘pure love of truth’ proceeding via the critical and thorough study of sources and the interests in the universal to the perceptions of totality[…] Being aesthetic-experiential rather than conceptual or ‘positive,’ this religious element is reflected throughout Ranke’s enterprise, in source criticism and in historical representation no less than in the conception of cause and effect in the historical process[…] ‘Everything is connect[ed]’ Ranke wrote in […] analecten der englischen Geschichte; critical study of authentic sources, impartial observation, objective representation; the aim is the realization of [Vergegenwärtigung] of the past and in 1873, Ranke wrote that ‘the historical method which only searches for the authentic and true, is immediately connected to the highest questions of the human race.’ 21
In the quotation above, Braw also describes Ranke’s commitment to facts and truth. Ranke is considered as the founder of the modern histography because of this strict approach which can be considered to be of a scientific and methodological character.
Lauritz Weibull started the historical-critical school in Sweden around 1910. According to Birgitta Odén, in Scandinavia, the school was established during the 1903-1930 period.22 Further, the analysis of sources became clearly essential, particularly after the Second World War. By this time, new institutional structures propelled the development of social studies for basic and high-school levels intended to educate critical and democratic-minded citizens.23
Odén describes a paradigm shift through an active debate in the field and identified Rolf Torsthendahl’s dissertation Källkritik och vetenskapssynen from 1964 as the work that initiated the
discussion.24 This, Odén explains, happened when Torsthendahl considered that Lauritz Weibull’s new contribution, was orienteered to the empirical view of knowledge, and not to source criticism.25
Source criticism has been characterised by discussions, agreements, and disagreements. Janken Myrdal, for example, describes in a debate article about source criticism in cultural history, that source criticism has 20 J. D. Braw (2007), Vision as Revision: Ranke and the Beginning of Modern History, History and Theory, 46(4), 45–60.
21 Ibid.
22 Birgitta Odén (1975), Det moderna kritisk-historiska genombrottet i svenskhistorisk forskning, Scandia, 41, 5–29.
23 It is important to observe that in many countries, the social studies as a subject, was initially a part of the history subject. In Sweden e.g., this changed after the Skolkommissionen 1946. 24 Odén (1975).
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two main conceptions. The first one, characterised by selection procedures of source-material and use of the four classical criteria from Von Ranke. The other one, denominated källpluralism, translate to - ‘plural-sources’ approach - also includes a criterion that implies the inclusion of a pluralism of source material.26 Myrdal argues that Torsthendahl even discussed the criteria of pluralism and expressed having taken the term, källpluralism, from him.27 Further, Myrdal criticised the traditional approach considering that a concentration of few sources can limit results, and finally suggest that the ‘plural-sources’ approach could be suitable for source criticism if it is followed by the incidence method, which implied the search of
information by looking for tracks in the sources. Myrdal explained that this approach emphasizes the inclusion of both methods: the traditional one and the ‘plural-sources’ approach, in a method package.28 The dominant methodology, used within social studies in Sweden, is the classical one, however, the focus has lately been directed towards the improvement of new techniques to be used in the search and evaluation of information from internet. In the year 2000, the Swedish Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar,29 published the book, Källkritik för Internet, written by Göran Leth and Torsten Thurén in which the
researchers suggest that “[…] The traditional source-critical principles are just as valid on the Internet as in other contexts, [but] the special conditions in cyberspace mean that the applications are partly different.”30 Then Leth and Thurén explained Ranke’s criteria as follows:
[Time:] “[...][H]uman forgetfulness must be [considered]. The more time which has elapsed after an event, the less reliable the witnesses
reporting on the event. On the internet, this problem is somewhat different; it is mostly a question of when the website was last updated.”
[Dependence:] “Within both journalism and history research, it is important to know whether different sources are interdependent. If
two sources are independent, the credibility of assertions common to both [...] increases. On the other hand, if the sources are dependent on one another, credibility is diminished[...]” [Authenticity:] “It is important to know whether a source is [...] what it claims to be [...]we could discover whether text had been erased, a photograph retouched or whether an alleged antique object was a reproduction. [...]”
[Bias:] [This criterion aims to try to identify when the information is delivered] “[...]with an interest in something – an involved party – of
being unreliable or biased. [...]31
Leth and Thurén propose three new criteria as well: 1) ‘World-view and conceptions of knowledge’: this criterion considers different perspectives and is explained with the following words: “[...]All sources are the products of the cultures in which they have existed or currently exist. Cultures are constituted by a number of factors[...]all of which [can] be summarised as forming various world-views[...]”32 2)
‘Credibility’: this criterion contemplate if the source, for example a website has “demonstrable reasonableness in the argumentation, accuracy and truthfulness in the mediation of facts, as well as awareness of well[-]known authorities and established ideas in the area.”33 3) ‘Source conditions and features’: This criterion considers the faults the sources may have regarding for example “mistakes, forgetfulness, blundering, misperceptions, lack of knowledge, believing rather than knowing, and misjudgements.”34
26 Myrdal Janken (2007), Källpluralismen och dess inkluderande metodpaket, Historisk Tidskrift, 127:3 • 200., p. 495–504.
27 Ibid. (My translation). 28 Ibid.
29 Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar, Nationalencyklopedin, (Retrieved: 2020-08-16): According to Nationalencyklopedin (NE) The Board of Psychological Defence, SPF, was a government
agency that led and coordinated psychological defence and information preparedness. The agency started in 1985 and closed in 2008.
30Göran Leth & Thurén Torsten (2000), Källkritik för Internet [Electronic recourse], Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar, Stockholm. 31 Ibid., p. 143-145. (Original source in English).
32 Ibid. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid.
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Thurén have published other related materials and a book titled Källkritik in several editions. The latest one in 201935 sustains the traditional criteria as the central tool for source criticism and is updated with the participation of Jack Werner who discusses the issue of social media.36
Source criticism has, since Ranke revolved around four traditional criteria in history, social sciences, and social studies. However other criteria, procedures and strategies have also been promoted alongside it. Factors, such as the nature of the analysed source, the authority of the source and its relation to
information, i.e., if there is a first or a second-grade source, among different other criteria and techniques, are normally considered. One example of the diversity of criteria that can be used in different source critical analysis can be found in the discussion presented by Bo Edvardsson 1998 at the 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking.37 In a working version, presented earlier that year, Edvardsson proposed the use of 71 different criteria, including the four traditional criteria from Ranke for use in work towards theories, research, investigation and assessments.38 Edvardsson then explained that in social sciences there are necessary additional criteria, because, “…unlike historians, we work with short time perspectives and predominantly with other types of data/tasks. This means that partly other problems and criteria should be emphasized in the source-critical work.”39
Some of Edvardsson’s criteria could be also considered in the analysis of information and news. For example, Etablissemangskriteriet (the establishment criterion) implies that sources can be associated with those in power or following the established views and values and then occur in lack of criticism
concerning those in power; Trianguleringskriteriet (the triangulation criterion) consisting of making contrast or verifying information with other sources; Replikkriteriet (the reply criterion) “i.e., is [the consideration of if ] there is reply from the person who in important respects is described, valued, criticized, etc. [...]” and the “Kritiska metanivå-kriteriet (the critical meta-level criterion), “i.e., [if]the source has a developed critical awareness and ongoing review of information management or [if] the source is naive in its information management, e.g., uncritically takes information, interpretations etc. for granted”.40 This last criteria can be considered as a part of the tendency criteria. However, when in e.g., reports where different perspectives of conflicts are presented, then it is relevant to evaluate the provided information considering the quality of knowledge of the antagonistic interviewees.
There is a lively discussion occurring in Sweden about the importance of source criticism, especially between educators of social studies. This discussion includes the relation between source criticism and critical thinking, and has received a concrete response in December 2020, when The Swedish Institute for Educational Research (Skolforskningsinstitutet) presented a research summary of studies that included general reviews regarding identification of challenges and results in terms of solutions proposed by those studies. The work towards the referred summary started with a literature database search of 12,355 studies about source criticism. Three rounds of relevance reviews (the last one, analysing 485 studies in full text), led to 35 Torsten Thurén & Jack Werner (2019), Källkritik, Fourth edition, Liber, Stockholm.
36 Ibid.
37 Bo Edvardsson (1998a), The need for critical evaluation of information: Criteria, principles and responsibility, Paper presented at the 18th International Conference on Critical Thinking, Rohnert
Park, USA, Aug 1-4, 1998.
38 Bo Edvardsson (1998b), Källkritiska kriterier för teorier, forskning, utredande och bedömningar, Örebro University. Note: An electronic version (Swedish) is available at SVT-barn. 39 Ibid. (My translation).
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the qualification of 28 relevant studies. In addition, two studies were incorporated by using techniques of citation-search and chain-search to complete 30 studies about source criticism oriented to the
development of critical thinking in educational context related to social studies.41
Skolforskningsinstitutet’s inventory of research categorizes studies according to three orientation
categories, considering if the studies were orientated towards analyses of: discussion-based teaching, text-based teaching or multimedia-based teaching.42 The analysed studies have also been categorized according to four different abilities of focus for students’ improvement of critical thinking: source critical ability, analytical ability, self-reflective ability and argumentative ability.43
Regarding the relationship between source criticism and critical thinking, the team in charge of the summary considers source criticism as one of the abilities of critical thinking and acknowledges the difficulty of the definition of critical thinking because of the different conceptions of it. Then, they define critical thinking in social studies as:
[...][T]he ability to interpret, examine and evaluate different types of information on social issues in order to be able to identify and understand different perspectives, consequences and connections in an analytical way. Furthermore, critical thinking presupposes the ability to discern, develop and question one's own and others' assessments and conclusions, as well as to be able to use and explain information, analyses and arguments in reasoning about societal issues. Based on this definition, source criticism is an important part of critical thinking in social studies.44
Since this study’s final objective is to produce a model useful to work with source criticism that also can facilitate the improvement of critical thinking, the first analysis and compilation of research in the field, Critical Thinking and Source Criticism, that the Swedish Skolforskningsinstitutet conducted, is considered as relevant and useful in/for the present study. For this reason, I will adopt the aforementioned definition of critical thinking used in the summary of Skolforskningsinstitutet and moreover, I will discuss two studies of the analysed by the referred institution, which treat the four main abilities identified in the summary.45 This discussion will remain short since the institution already has presented a macro analysis of those studies. My objective, instead, is to analyse each result and understand which problems the researchers find as well as the proposed solutions, concepts or strategies to further discussion in this thesis.
Further down, I will include a compilation of results from the thirty studies reviewed by
Skolforskningsinstitutet: The investigation identified three recurrent forms of teaching in social studies: discussion-based teaching, text-based teaching and multimedia-based teaching. The summary identified that each one of the analysed studies focused on one or more of four main abilities in the students’ learning process towards the development of critical thinking: source-critical ability, analytical ability, self-reflective ability and argumentative ability. The summary identified aspects of teaching that are important for the improvement of students’ critical thinking in social studies which are: teacher management, well-chosen content and the use of support
41 Skolforskningsinstitutet (2020). 42 Ibid. p. 12. (My translation). 43 Ibid.
44 Ibid. 45 Ibid.
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structures.46 Moreover, the analyses of those studies reveal the following challenges about teaching in order to improve students critical thinking and source critical abilities:
[…] Even a very well thought preparation or planning can give relatively modest results after several months of teaching […] Strengthening students’ critical thinking in the classroom requires qualified teaching over a long period of time […]
There are also aspects of critical thinking that students find particularly difficult to learn […] For example, many students may initially have difficulty identifying the source of information, and despite several lessons dedicated to critically examining sources, they are still struggling with this […] Another challenge is to balance lively debates and thoughtful conversations. Creating engagement and discussions have positive sides, but critical thinking also requires consideration and deeper reflection, something that the most engaging free discussions do not necessarily entail. There is a risk that overly-free discussions in the classroom are characterized by opinions rather than thinking and therefore overly-free discussions are not necessarily to the benefit of students' critical thinking […]Engaging discussions can also mean that intellectual strong students take over the speaking space so that only a few students have a say […] The fact that the teacher distributes the turn to speak can make more students participate, at the same time as it can be negative for the flow of the discussion […]
When students work with information on the internet, there is a risk that they will be left alone in front of a screen and then they may need help and support. In a digital world, it may be tempting to use sound, image and text in order to give students a better experience, but the teacher needs to help students navigate a rich information landscape and structure the available information […]47
The summary highlights several challenges for the improvement of the students’ source criticism and critical thinking abilities, for example, the student’s difficulties to identify sources, the risks of discussions becoming opinion forums instead of being used for the analysing of different perspectives, as well as the risk that intellectually strong students monopolise discussions. Moreover, the summary also highlights the importance of using strategies e.g., lateral reading in search of information on internet. This, according to Sarah McGrew - who conducted one, and participated in another of the analysed studies,48 – is a strategy used by fact checkers consisting in the examining of the information about the visited websites.49
Critical thinking is a difficult matter to improve. Shu Ching Yang and Tung-Yu Chung, for example, who conducted one of the analysed studies by Skolforskningsinstitutet, highlight that “critical thinking skills are socio-cognitive skills and cannot be learned through self-discovery”.50 Thereby, in order to support student’s improvement of those skills, it is relevant to use support structures. Yang and Chung, for example, used Richard Paul´s model for critical thinking, which delivered positive results in the experimental study they conducted. 51 In order to succeed in the development of critical thinking, they considered besides the usage of models, the use of different levels of scaffolding52 and “different ways of providing scaffolding within the learners’ [zones of proximal development]”.53 Yang and Chung, use Paul’s model and explain that this was selected because of different relevant characteristics such as its:
[S]ound and rich theoretical grounding, its appropriateness for infusion into course material […], and its inclusion of standards and dispositions. The model […] centres around three interrelated components of thinking: elements or components of good reasoning; intellectual standards used to assess the quality of the thinking; and intellectual traits or virtues. These are essential for effective critical
46 Ibid.
47 Ibid p 49. (My translation).
48 Sarah McGrew (2020), Learning to evaluate: An intervention in civic online reasoning, Computers and Education, vol. 145.
49 Ibid.: [Follows an excerpt from the article]: […] [F]act checkers read laterally. Landing on an unfamiliar site, they prioritized finding out more about the site’s sponsoring organization or
author. To conduct that research, fact checkers opened new tabs and searched for information about the author or organization outside the site itself.
50 Shu Ching Yang and Tung-Yu Chung (2009), Experimental study of teaching critical thinking in civic education in Taiwanese junior high school, British Journal of Educational Psychology
(2009), 79, 29–55, p. 34.
51 Yang and Chung (2009), p. 29: Yang and Chung, conducted the referred study in high schools in Taiwan. The study involved “two classes of eighth grade students […] and were
distributed into experimental and control groups. Each group comprised 34 students with the experimental group containing 16 boys and 18 girls and the control group containing 18 boys and 16 girls.”
52 Yang and Chung (2009), p.32.: “Scaffolding, a concept developed by Wood, Bruner, and Ross (1976), is a strategy for providing assistance, ‘that enables a child or novice to solve a
problem, carry out a task, or achieve a goal which would be beyond his/her unassisted efforts’ (p. 90). Problem solving that is beyond one’s unassisted efforts but can be achieved with assistance also identifies the Zone of Current Development (ZPD). Vygotsky (1978, p. 86) coined and defined the ZPD as ‘the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers’.”
53 Yang and Chung (2009), p. 34: Those different ways were instructional as: “[Critical Thinking] modelling activity, learning sheets, peer discussion, group debate, reflection/feedback,
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thinkers. According to Paul, there are eight elements or building-blocks basic to any reasoning process or task, such as the purpose of the thinking […], the question at issue or problem to be solved, fundamental concepts […], information […], point of view […], inferences […], assumptions […], as well as implications […]. Paul emphasizes universal intellectual standards which are essential for evaluating thinking: clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, sufficiency, logic, depth, and breadth. These intellectual virtues are interdependent values or habits of the mind that promote development of critical thought, moral integrity, and responsible citizenship...54
Paul’s model for critical thinking, as described above, presents several factors relevant to consider in teaching intended to promote critical thinking. Since source criticism can be considered as a part of critical thinking, then Paul’s model from 1993 and its further development by Paul and Elder later in 200155 could be suitable to be used in practices of source criticism.
Another study of the review in the Skolforskningsinstitutet summary about the development of critical thinking in relation to source criticism, analytical ability, self-reflective ability and argumentative ability is one conducted by Jane. C. Lo and Carol. I. Adams.56 Based on the examination of structured academic controversy (SAC),57 the study, explained Lo and Adams, was conducted as an in-depth case study analysis and thereby “[…]focused on a small group of students from one teacher’s classroom […]”58 The used methodology include semi-structured interviews and a focus group describes as being composed by students “with a wide range of reading skills and background knowledge”.59 The themes which the
students worked with was historical/politically-controversial and the students needed to read complicated and primary sources.60
The role of the teacher is highlighted as essential in the aforementioned study, since both the teacher’s knowledge and the used structure seems to facilitate the development of students critical thinking. The study presents “two major findings: (1) SAC supported students’ content understanding by prompting them to actively use texts as sources to substantiate their arguments; and (2) [the teacher’s] facilitation and guidance encouraged students to work with texts in a way that developed their understanding[…]”61 In the course of Lo and Adam’s study, it is possible to see how the SAC strategy increases knowledge about the studied subject and how this affects students’ approach to information. The teacher urged the students to use close reading and explained a strategy that consisted of making pauses after every paragraph, (“[to] chunk the text”) which aim is to give time for deeper analysis and reflection.62
Other research relevant to this thesis is for example, a study conducted in Chile, aimed to “investigate to what extent young citizens are able to classify news headlines and ideological orientation of news media outlets.”63 This was done through a quantitative case study. 64 The study analyses the “critical thinking
54 Yang and Chung (2009), p. 33-34.
55 Richard Paul and Linda Elder (2001), Critical thinking: tools for taking charge of your learning and your life. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. A digital version of the model can be
found in the University homepage.
56 Jane. C. Lo & Carol. I. Adams (2018), Civic literacy through literacy instruction: Using structured academic controversy in a government classroom, Citizenship Teaching and Learning, vol. 13, nr 1, s. 83–104.
57 Lo & Adams (2018): [Follows an excerpt from the article]: […] Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) […] In a SAC, students are assigned to a role on one of two sides to a controversial
issue, but rather than debating the issue (as one might do in a pro/con activity), students prepare their arguments and present them to the other side while the other side takes notes. Once the presentation ends, the side that listened summarizes the arguments and repeats it back as a check for understanding. The presentation/listening process then repeats for the second side. After both sides have presented their arguments, the two sides then discuss whether they can come to a compromise on the topic. Students are then asked to drop their roles so that they can reflect on how they actually feel about the issue after hearing both sides of the argument (Parker 2011). This process allows students to not only hear both sides of a controversial issue in order to understand it better, but to also reflect and think about how they feel about the issue after they have discussed it with their peers, rather than debating it […]
58 Lo & Adams (2018)., p. 88. 59 Ibid. 60 Lo & Adams (2018). 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid.
64 Matthieu Vernier, Luis Cárcamo, & Eliana Scheihing (2018), Pensamiento crítico de los jóvenes ciudadanos frente a las noticias en Chile. Comunicar: Revista Científica de Comunicación y
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ability of students when facing news dealing with social mobilization.65 The data was collected “through four online exercises conducted by 75 secondary school students, 55 university students and 25
communication specialists.” The main result was:
In light of the results, the tasks might seem difficult for high school students as they get little agreement and the responses have on average weak relevance. It is also observed that, for secondary school students, the average response rate “I would not know how to qualify it” is 56% for the media and 19% for headlines, against 13% and 2% for specialists (12% and 10% for university students)[…] We can conclude that secondary school students do indeed have a rather fragile individual capacity, but sufficient to contribute to group reflection. University students have a finer individual critical capacity, but it would also be more effective to cross group reflections […]66
The conclusions of this study are relevant in two ways for the present research. On one hand, they describe the difficulties people are having with source criticism when factors such as knowledge about historical events and politics are needed to understand the context of information. On the other hand, they suggest how group-work exercises around source criticism could be suitable and productive as a didactical strategy in an educational context. Using the theory of James Surowiecki known as The Wisdom of Crowds,67 the researchers reported about the major success when the respondents were working in groups. This exercise suggests that the combination of political awareness and knowledge about the current situation in Chile, which some individuals in each group had, determinate a better performance in source critical analysis for the group they participated in.68
Many of the studies presented here could have met the Critical Literacy Pedagogy. The Swedish Skolverket dedicates a space to this approach in a discussion about Kerstin Bergöö and Karin Jönsson’s book, Glädjen i att förstå: språk- och textarbete med barn.69 They explain that: “Critical literacy is about: a) building an understanding of a content with the help of language, b) being able to interpret and compare different text forms, c) gain a coherent view of language, knowledge, identity and democracy, d) critically examine class, gender, ethnicity and other issues of justice and power, and e) engage children/students in issues relevant to them.”70
A wider discussion about critical literacy is presented by Elizabeth Bishop71 who explained that this pedagogy is grounded in Paulo Freire’s work,72more concretely in Paulo Freire and D. Macedo’s: Literacy: Reading the word and the world. 73 Bishop explained about the political dimension of this educational
perspective, and besides the historical background, present some examples of critical literacy research:
[…] Across the last decade of research, five overlapping components have been consistently articulated as “core principles” for cycles of critical literacy […],frequently conceived of as the “transformative elements” in critical literacy pedagogy […].I have synthesized these concepts from across the literature as: (a) mobilizing learners as social actors with knowledge and skills to disrupt the commonplace; (b) conducting research, analysis and interrogation of multiple viewpoints on an issue; (c) identifying issues focused on sociopolitical realities
65 In this case, the No+APF (No+Pension Fund Administrators).
66 Ibid.: Vernier, Cárcamo & Scheihing, also explained that the category of students was composed from two different schools and the category of university students was constituted from
students from diverse faculties which implied that their conclusion about the effectivity of working in groups or cross group reflections could be based in consideration of a more large and diversity quality of knowledge in the last group. The researchers explained that they used the theory of James Surowiecki known as The Wisdom of Crowds. (My translation).
67 James Surowiecki (2004), The wisdom of crowds: why the many are smarter than the few and how collective wisdom shapes business, economics, society and nations. London: Little, Brown.
68 As the title of the above referred book suggest, the theory: ‘the wisdom of crowds’, can explain “[…] why the many are smarter than the few and [also] how collective wisdom [can]shapes
business, economics, society and nations.”
69 Bergöö Kerstin and Jönsson Karin (2012), Glädjen i att förstå: språk- och textarbete med barn. Lund: Studentlitteratur. 70 Skolverket (2020),” Critical literacy” synliggör maktrelationer och motiverar (retrieved 08/11/2020). (My translation).
71 Elizabeth Bishop (2014), Critical Literacy Bringing Theory to Praxis,Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Volume 30, Number 1, 2014. 72 Paulo Freire is the author of the book: Pedagogy of the oppressed, published in 1970.
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in the context of the lives of the learners; (d) designing and undertaking actions focused on social justice outside of the classroom; and (e) reflecting upon actions taken and creating vision(s) for future project(s) […]74
As we see, the critical literacy pedagogy is intended to analyse content through the use of language and by problematizing structural problems as power relations. This approach is intended to stimulate the students’ critical thinking through a widespread view of factors and actors involved in different situations. Regarding internet and new published forms, Helena Francke and Olof Sundin 75 focus their attention,
in general, on digital platforms for diffusion of information and categorised those websites into different groups. Furthermore, focus on the development of collaboratively created encyclopaedias such as Wikipedia and discuss several concepts in relation to the quality of digital media, such as the concept of authority in information, with a related concept, hierarchy-credibility, which imply that studies that are more reliable are closer to academic research.76 Patrick Wilsons concept of intrinsic plausibility77 is also discussed.
This implies that people, regardless of educational levels, might have difficulty retesting beliefs when these are linked to values.
In a conference paper, Digital källkritik i nyhetsflöden och undervisning,78 Thomas Nygren describes the
importance of developing subject knowledge for source criticism, and the concept of digital
medborgarliteracitet (digital citizen literacy) as “the ability to critically and constructively handle multimodal information on social issues”.79 Furthermore, Nygren explains that humans can soon be found isolated in separated world images, so-called digital echo chambers,80 which are designed by filters used in search engines
in the form of algorithms to expose the users to the information that is believed to interest them. In this way, Nygren explains that, both information and disinformation are disseminated through segregated networks. This last information is part of what is today known as search criticism which attends to the process used for information-search in an effective way using, for example, the criteria of authority behind the sources and considering the problematics that new technologies create, namely the use of algorithms. Nygren continues to present on-going studies about current research in the field that studies digital citizen literacy 81and “research for critical and constructive teaching practices”. However, Nygren also describes that because there is not enough “evidence-based research [then] it is central to link teaching practice to experimental data”.82 Furthermore, he notes that education about source criticism is difficult to achieve in practice “because there is to a great extent lack of knowledge about how teaching should be designed to actually support such learning”.83 Nygren discusses likewise, about the “controversial concept”: faktarisering,84 which is similar to the already discussed concept intrinsic plausibility from Patrick
Wilson.85
74Elizabeth Bishop (2014), Critical Literacy Bringing Theory to Praxis,Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, Volume 30, Number 1, 2014. p. 55. 75 Francke and Sundin (2018).
76 The researchers also refer to “[…] the importance of understanding production conditions and the economic, political, legal and cultural factors that influence how sources are created and
used”. This consideration is made however, as an acknowledgment of that those factors are important for source criticism but is done in relation to search criticism.
77 Ibid.
78 Thomas Nygren (2018), Digital källkritik i nyhetsflöden och undervisning, Conference Paper, August 2018. 79 Ibid. (My translation).
80 Ibid. 81 Ibid.
82 Ibid. (My translation). 83 Ibid.
84 Ibid; See even Nygren (2019), Fakta, fejk, fiktion: källkritik, ämnesdidaktik, digital kompetens, First Edition, Natur & Kultur, Stockholm., p. 53. 85 Francke and Sundin (2018).
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Birger Hjørland contributes with a critical approach as well, 86 and discusses different practices of source criticism, describing twelve different ways of its practices.87Hjørland also includes a critical discussion about each presented approach and concludes that:
I do not believe that any of these methods [see footnote 87] can do the job, alone or in combination. I think the goal is to teach students to read texts, to understand them, and to be able to provide a relevant criticism of them.[…] All the methods are ‘just’ steps on our way in learning how to read, understand, and criticize texts. But as such they may represent valuable or indeed necessary steps that counteract the use of narrow and one-sided approaches […] Good, scholarly reading is to be aware of different perspectives, and to situate oneself among them.88
The quote that Hjørland formulates, when he says “I do not believe that any [of his twelve proposed] methods can do the job alone…” This indicates also that the analysis of information requires
consideration of many different factors and strategies, or as Hjørland describes it “counteract the use of narrow and one-sided approaches.”
Thomas Nygren published a new book in 2019, Fakta, fejk och fiktion – källkritik, ämnesdidaktik, digital kompetens89, which also discusses the importance of management of different perspectives, or the concept
of multiperspectivity, the importance of critical and historical thinking in relation to the digitalized world with the already referred concept digital citizen literacy.90 Hjørland and Nygren take critical approaches to source criticism with the discussion about using different approaches or the use of contrasting, and with the presentation of concepts such as multiperspectivity and digital citizen literacy. Their approaches are similar as well to the critical literacy pedagogy.
2.1 Summary of previous research
In the selected extract of research presented above, I first considered the origins of source criticism as a scientific method in historiography. This review is based in the natural relation that source criticism in social studies has with source criticism in history. I consider it important to observe the development of both fields in order to identify differences and similarities in between the two fields that could be part of the discussion this study presents around its theoretical development.
We can see early attempts to broaden the source critical criteria with, for example, Myrdal from the cultural-history field who tried to include the ‘source-plural’ criteria alongside the incidence methodology and traditional criteria, Bo Edvarsson which endeavours to demonstrate the relevance of other used criteria in the practice of source criticism for social sciences, and Leth and Thurén who in the beginning of the digital revolution proposed three new criteria as well. One of those, the ‘World-view and conceptions of knowledge’ criterion can be compared with the concept of ‘multiperspectivity discussed by Nygren. The summary of research published by the Swedish Skolforskningsinstitutet collects information about the development of critical thinking through source critical activities and is intended to make the actual
86 Birger Hjørland (2012), Methods for evaluating information sources: An annotated catalogue, Journal of Information Science 38(3) 258–268.
87 Ibid, p.258: “[Those approach are]: (1)the checklist approach; (2) classical peer review; (3) modified peer review; (4) evaluation based on examining the coverage of controversial views; (5)
evidence-based evaluation; (6) comparative studies; (7) author credentials; (8) publisher reputation; (9) journal impact factor; (10) sponsoring: tracing the influence of economic, political, and ideological interests; (11) book reviews and book reviewing; and (12) broader criteria.”
88 Ibid, p 266. 89 Thomas Nygren (2019). 90 Nygren (2018); Nygren (2019).
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research accessible to the practicing educators. This material identifies four main abilities in the students learning process towards the development of critical thinking: source-critical ability, analytical ability, self-reflective ability and argumentative ability and several challenges for the students towards their development of critical thinking, such as difficulties identifying sources, and conditions concerning their participating in debates and discussions,91 which make the role of the teacher essential as in other different situations.
The summary presents a discussion about the search of information on the internet. In turn, the material explores the improvement of critical thinking through different strategies but at the same time, expresses concerns about the negative sides of lively discussions. As the researchers in the summary indicates: “critical thinking also requires consideration and deeper reflection”.92 Other relevant aspects presented in the referred summary are related to the selection of materials and the use of support structures that could present different didactical strategies to work with source criticism in order to improve critical thinking. The discussion in the summary, and some of its results coincide with this thesis, especially regarding the role of support structures, which this thesis is aimed towards.
We can see that the general field of source criticism contains many different developments, several concepts, and the field of education in social studies can benefit from it. Paraphrasing Bo Edvardsson in the already citated quotation and changing only “social sciences” by social studies: “…unlike historians, we [in social studies] work [often] with short time perspectives and […] with other type of data/tasks. This means that partly other problems and criteria should be emphasized in the source-critical work”.93 This section also discusses early research about search criticism and several concepts about strategies suitable to the first step in source critical approaches, such as the identification of information and who is behind it. The critical literacy pedagogical tradition is also presented in this discussion considering that it presents a wide spectrum of perspectives and factors that can be suitable to the practice of source criticism and the development of critical thinking. Many of the analysed studies could be categorized in this
educational approach.
The critical literacy approach in education presents possibilities in the practices of source criticism and it can be reflected in the results about research on source criticism and critical thinking. Social studies’ source criticism has been adopting wider approaches that might have to do with the nature of social studies and not only with the occurrence of the internet and the fake news phenomenon. Social studies is per se an interdisciplinary subject, thus it might employ methods as such. This reflection remained in my mind as I came across empirical evidence of the effects that a multidisciplinary and highly qualified education have on a group of young high school students in the course of my previous study during 2019. The mentioned study could also be considered early research for this one, but as I will explain in the following section, it is more a part of the present study.
91Skolforskningsinstitutet (2020). 92 Ibid.
93 Bo Edvardsson (1998a). (My translation. Note: I have intentionally changed the Swedish equivalent words for: ‘social sciences’ to ‘social studies’ while trying to make a point in the
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3. Methodology and a theory-developing approach Background
This study was inspired by the exceptional academical qualifications and attitudes of a group of young students from a unique advanced educational program in a Swedish high school. While analysing the material from my previous study, I noticed that this group of students demonstrated remarkable knowledge and attitudes in several areas. At that time, I presented the term Awareness of Diversity and Multiculturalism to name a common phenomenon found among these students. 94 Many factors allow the development of this awareness, including the search for different perspectives, the ability and genuine openness to relate to other cultures as well as the management of different concepts, theories and methodological tools. 95 At that time, I was conducting an inductive study when suddenly a political situation in Venezuela occurred, which made several students and teachers wanting to speak about it.96 The political conflicts in Venezuela have been covered by media in the past few years and I started to wonder about students’ general knowledge regarding what happens in other parts of the world and how news could have an impact on their understanding of conflicts that are geographically and culturally distant from their own realities. I wanted to investigate how the news may influence the perception of other cultures and perspectives. In regard to the previous mentioned situation, I decided to work with the question of source criticism for this thesis, create the first interview guide and began with interviews almost at the same time that I was working with my previous study. Consequently, this thesis partially represents a continuation of my previous research. I also decided to design a survey that could be used for both of the projects.
3.1 Methodological strategies for the theoretical development
I conducted my first interviews focused on the source criticism question in Sweden in May of 2019 beginning with students and teachers from the specialized program referred above. Since the students from this program showed interest about political conflicts and have been critical in discussions regarding news on shifting political conflicts in several countries from several perspectives in relation to theories and historical knowledge. When I noticed that they were actively interested in the Venezuela situation, I wondered if they would have the same interest in other conflicts.
One of the questions in the interview guide was designed as a strategical game: “Below we have some questions regarding different countries, organizations, continents, and geographical areas. Please answer the first thing that comes to your mind when it comes to history, politics, and culture, in that exact order, i.e. if you do not come up with something relating to history, then simply move forward to the next category and so on, […]The countries, regions and organizations are as follows: […]” After that I asked a question regarding conflicts in four different countries and after different questions about their approach to media and about source criticism. (See appendix 3 and 4 for the detail main questions).
94 Hernández Guerrero (2019). 95 Ibid.
96 The situation in question was about the political conflicts between the Venezuelan government and part of the opposition that escalated along with the self-proclamation of the by then
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Using the same question guides, I afterwards interviewed other teachers and students from regular programs in Sweden.
I wanted to investigate how people in a highly politized and conflict situation interacted with information. I later travelled to Venezuela in June of 2019 and interviewed university teachers and students, high school teachers, journalists and others citizens from several professions engaged in source criticism.97 In this case, I asked about source criticism, their approach to media, the conflict in the country and the historical backgrounds. My purpose was to find a relationship about historical knowledge and theoretical knowledge in their analysis of news. Since the conflict involves the media, I decided to
interview journalists as well in order to see their perspective in relation to the situation in the country and about source criticism. Back in Sweden, I decided to interview journalists as well regarding the question of source criticism, media and political conflicts.
About the theoretical development
As Peter Svensson synthetized, the development or improvement of theories are rare in student theses.98 The main reasons for this are perhaps the time and work required. In the case of the present study, the theoretical development has been motivated in an unusual phenomenon as well: the advanced aptitudes and attitudes of the group of students that I fortuitously interviewed, and also the unexpected situation in Venezuela that recalled the attention of the interviewees and my own interest in their critical analysis and approach.
Svensson also explained that a theory is composed of, among others, one or more perspectives, concepts and problem formulations.99 I began by using the inductive method Grounded Theory and asked myself many questions as for example: what kind of knowledge about other countries and its conflicts do people in Sweden have? Do they believe in summarised news even if they may know only little about a situation or context? What do they know about the historical backgrounds of each conflict? And during the first interviews with students from the advanced program, how can some young students have such a high quality in analysis and critical approaches to information? Where do they get the information? After reflections, alongside different perspectives, it made me realize that source criticism is a complex activity but also that its complexities could likewise signify an opportunity for the development of critical thinking and other abilities in students, as is shown already in the group from the advanced program. Then that I could do a research in order to gather and analyse information about the need criteria and ways to practice source criticism to create a model where this information could be easily available.
Two main methodological strategies for the theoretical development of the concept critical source criticism and its theoretical model (the CSC-model)
97 See appendix 8 and 9 for the detailed main questions.
98 Peter Svensson in: Göran Ahrne, & Peter Svensson (2015), Handbok i kvalitativa metoder, 2., [expanded and updated] edition., Liber, Stockholm., p. 214. 99 Ibid., p. 208, pp.
