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Elsweiler, David ; Ateia, Samy ; Bink, Markus ; Donabauer, Gregor ; Fernández Pichel, Marcos ; Frummet, Alexander ; Kruschwitz, Udo ; Losada, David E. ; Ludwig, Bernd ; Meyer, Selina ; Pascual Presa, Noel

Query Smarter, Trust Better? Exploring Search Behaviours for Verifying News Accuracy

Elsweiler, David , Ateia, Samy, Bink, Markus, Donabauer, Gregor, Fernández Pichel, Marcos, Frummet, Alexander , Kruschwitz, Udo , Losada, David E., Ludwig, Bernd , Meyer, Selina and Pascual Presa, Noel (2025) Query Smarter, Trust Better? Exploring Search Behaviours for Verifying News Accuracy. In: SIGIR '25: The 48th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, July 13 - 18, 2025, Padua, Italy.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 30 Oct 2025 09:57
Conference or workshop item
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.78043


Abstract

While it is often assumed that searching for information to evaluate misinformation will help identify false claims, recent work suggests that search behaviours can instead reinforce belief in misleading news, particularly when users generate queries using vocabulary from the source articles. Our research explores how different query generation strategies affect news verification and whether the ...

While it is often assumed that searching for information to evaluate misinformation will help identify false claims, recent work suggests that search behaviours can instead reinforce belief in misleading news, particularly when users generate queries using vocabulary from the source articles. Our research explores how different query generation strategies affect news verification and whether the way people search influences the accuracy of their information evaluation. A mixed-methods approach was used, consisting of three parts: (1) an analysis of existing data to understand how search behaviour influences trust in fake news (2) a simulation of query generation strategies using a Large Language Model (LLM) to assess the impact of different query formulations on search result quality, and (3) a user study to examine how 'Boost' interventions in interface design can guide users to adopt more effective query strategies. The results show that search behaviour significantly affects trust in news, with successful searches involving multiple queries and yielding higher-quality results. Queries inspired by different parts of a news article produced search results of varying quality, and weak initial queries improved when reformulated using full SERP information. Although 'Boost' interventions had limited impact, the study suggests that interface design encouraging users to thoroughly review search results can enhance query formulation. This study highlights the importance of query strategies in evaluating news and proposes that interface design can play a key role in promoting more effective search practices, serving as one component of a broader set of interventions to combat misinformation.



Involved Institutions


Details

Item typeConference or workshop item (Paper)
Title of Book:Proceedings of the 48th International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval
Page Range:pp. 515-526
Date2025
InstitutionsLanguages and Literatures > Institut für Information und Medien, Sprache und Kultur (I:IMSK) > Lehrstuhl für Informationswissenschaft (Prof. Dr. Udo Kruschwitz)
Informatics and Data Science > Department Human-Centered Computing > Lehrstuhl für Informationswissenschaft (Prof. Dr. Udo Kruschwitz)

Languages and Literatures > Institut für Information und Medien, Sprache und Kultur (I:IMSK) > Professur für Informationslinguistik (Prof. Dr. Bernd Ludwig)
Informatics and Data Science > Department Human-Centered Computing > Professur für Informationslinguistik (Prof. Dr. Bernd Ludwig)
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1145/3726302.3730067DOI
Keywordssearch behaviour, misinformation, mixed methods
Dewey Decimal Classification000 Computer science, information & general works > 004 Computer science
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgYes
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-780432
Item ID78043

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