Cultivating the Science Internet Audience

This two-part study examines factors that can influence the perceived credibility of a science Web site. In the first part, respondents answered questions about their perceptions of science sites with the .com and .gov domain. Findings suggest that sites with a .gov domain are perceived to be more credible. Part 2 is an experiment in which respondents read a short science article from a site. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions in which they were led to believe the site was from either a high- or moderate-credibility source and from a domain that contained either a .gov or .com extension. Ratings of the author, source, and the article were systematically influenced by the manipulations. Implications for science Web sites are presented in the discussion.

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