Reliability Questions

Question 1

Where do the marks come from in this type of question

Answer 1

• there are 2 marks available for commenting on the reliability of each source - for each source provide two separate points : either two positives or two negatives or one positive and one negative
• there are 2 marks available for making an overall conclusion about which source is the most reliable - you must compare it’s strength over each of the other two without repeating yourself

Question 2

C

Answer 2

C- date of the source : is the information current and still relevant? Have things changed since the source was published?this very much depends on the context of the source

Question 3

RA

Answer 3

RA - reliable / authority : are they reliable /reputable or experts? Does this source give us facts or is it based on opinion and if so is it likely be biased?

Question 4

P

Answer 4

P - purpose of the actual information presented : why has the source been created? Is it likely to present information in a misleading way to push an agenda?

Question 5

Mainly reliable

Answer 5

• 2 bits of evidence to show why it’s good

Question 6

Mainly unreliable

Answer 6

• 2 bits of evidence to show why it is not good

Question 7

Partially reliable /un

Answer 7

1 bit good and 1 bad

Question 8

What happens if the source is adapted

Answer 8

• if the source is adapted it is unreliable as we do not know how much of the source has been changed / left out

Question 9

What happens if the source is not current / recent

Answer 9

• if the source is not current / recent then it may not be relevant or accurate any more I.e has there been changes in the law since then / general election

Question 10

What happens if the source is from ‘various’

Answer 10

If the source is from ‘various’ it is likely to be unreliable as we might not know which websites it has been taken from

Question 11

Is the source - UK/Scottish Govt. (any ‘.gov’ and the NHS) reliable or unreliable

Answer 11

• Info. gathered and produced by civil servants or other people trained to do this type of job.
• Legal requirement to publish truthful information.

Question 12

Is the Scottish Crime & Justice Survey reliable or unreliable

Answer 12

• Uses face-to-face interviews to get in-depth responses.
• Independent from govt. with no political bias.

Question 13

Is the The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reliable or unreliable

Answer 13

• Reputable organisation and the UK’s largest producer of official statistics.
• Independent from govt. with no political bias.

Question 14

Are political parties reliable or unreliable

Answer 14

• Will be biased and may use statistics in a misleading way to support their campaign.
• Policies change often so may be out of date

Question 15

Are pressure groups and charities reliable or unreliable

Answer 15

• can be reliable as they often do in depth research, and may have up-to- date expert knowledge in a particular area.
• can be unreliable Likely to be biased and may use statistics in a misleading way to support their cause.

Question 16

Are UK News Channels and their websites (e.g. BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky) reliable or unreliable

Answer 16

Can be reliable :
• Reputable organisations with high trust rates, particularly BBC News and Channel 4 News.
• Independent of government, must provide fair and balanced reporting, and regulated by Ofcom.
Can be unreliable :
• BBC accused of biased reporting by pro- Brexit & pro-independence supporters.
• Channel 4 has been accused of left-wing biased reporting by some Conservatives
• Sky News has been accused of right-wing
biased reporting by some in Labour.

Question 17

Are newspapers reliable or unreliable

Answer 17

• Broadsheet newspapers (Herald, Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent) are reputable newspapers that are known for their higher quality of journalism compared to tabloids (Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mirror).
• Journalists must follow journalistic ethics and standards when researching and writing articles.

• Most are politically biased and may not report all sides of the story, particularly in ‘comment pieces’
• Some have a right-wing bias (Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, Telegraph & Times) and support the Conservatives; whilst others have a left-wing bias (Daily Mirror, Guardian, The National, The Independent, & Herald) – the first two support Labour, the National supports SNP and the other two don’t back any one party.

Question 18

Are Opinion polls reliable or unreliable

Answer 18

• Organisations such as YouGov and Ipsos Mori are reputable companies with trained researchers.
• 1000+ is generally considered a good sample size.

• They only ask a tiny proportion of the public so can never be entirely accurate - have incorrectly predicted some election & referendums results.

Question 19

Is Wikipedia reliable or unreliable

Answer 19

• Information can be up-date quickly and the majority of information is believed to be correct.
• A lot of information can be incorrect as anyone can change an entry and it is renowned for its inaccuracies.

Question 20

Is various websites reliable or unreliable

Answer 20

• Very unreliable as we do not know which websites have been used and where the information is from.