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Database Evaluation: Opposing Viewpoints vs. Points of View Katie Keeler and Mary Cummings University of Colorado Denver SCHL 5030 Instructor Large-Swope. Rationale
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Database Evaluation: Opposing Viewpoints vs. Points of View Katie Keeler and Mary Cummings University of Colorado Denver SCHL 5030 Instructor Large-Swope
Rationale • Many secondary schools that have access to a database for controversial issues have either Opposing Viewpoints or a Points of View subscription. • Our goal was to determine which of the two would be a better subscription to purchase. • We also took into consideration the Common Core Curriculum that emphasizes argument writing. Students will need access to timely articles on relevant issues in order to research and develop their argumentative speeches and papers in the secondary grades.
Question to be addressed in this evaluation: Is Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context or Points of View Reference Center a better tool based on the following criteria? • Audience: Junior High (grades 7, 8, 9) • Purpose: Students research both sides of a controversial topic of their interest in order to make a logical and debatable argument. • Scope: Databases should contain enough material for students to find answers to their questions. • Authority: Databases should provide scholarly articles from diverse viewpoints.
Audience 1. Do the topics represent the interests of our students? We surveyed seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students to determine which database, Points of View or Opposing Viewpoints, contains more issues that interest them—enough to research further. Students were asked to tally the number of issues that interested them for each database. Then, they calculated the percentage they found interesting in relationship to how many were offered. Finally, we calculated an overall percentage for each database and grade level to show which generated the most interest.
Conclusion: Based on the results of the student interest surveys, seventh grade students preferred the issues offered for research in the Opposing Viewpoints database. Eighth and ninth grade students, however, leaned toward the Points of View database. Overall, the Opposing Viewpoints database was the top choice when averaging all the students’ input, albeit by only two percentage points.
Audience 2. Does the electronic database appeal to our learners visually? • Opposing Viewpoints • Flash player with images related to current controversial issues • Multiple tabs at top for quick links • Sidebars of images • Very “interactive-looking” • Points of View • Very simple design with purple background; no images • Basic search bar on home page • “In the Spotlight” link box on home page (see next slide) Conclusion: Our students, particularly our visual learners, would find Opposing Viewpoints to be more appealing at first glance. Although Points of View may appear easier to navigate, they would be more inclined to explore the Opposing Viewpoints database because of the images and layout.
Opposing Viewpoints homepage Points of View homepage
Purpose 1. Does the database contain organizational features that help students search for appropriate articles? • Opposing Viewpoints • Easy search bar on home page to search by keyword and material source • Search by category of issue • Simple, clear advanced search option • By content level and lexile • Points of View • Easy search bar on homepage page • Search by category or all topics • Satisfactory advanced search option (see next slide) Conclusion: Both databases offered fairly user-friendly search options. However, for our students reading above or below grade level, Opposing Viewpoints allowed users to narrow results by content level and lexile number, which is of great value to our students and thus the better option here.
Opposing Viewpoints narrows by content level and Lexilerange Points of View narrows by similar advanced search, minus text difficulty.
Purpose 2. Is the database easy to use and navigate for 7th-9th graders looking for information? • Opposing Viewpoints • Easy search bar plus quick links • Results automatically divided by category • Results page can be overwhelming at first • Points of View • Easy search bar plus quick links • Results can be divided by tabs at top which students might miss • Students must know to only use full-text articles (no abstracts) (see next two slides) Conclusion: Both databases we would consider easy to navigate for junior high students. However, because the tabs at the top of the Points of View results seem clearer than the overwhelming all-on-one-page results in Opposing Viewpoints, Points of View would be the better of the two.
Search for “capital punishment” on Opposing Viewpoints: Results divided into categories automatically
Search for “capital punishment” on Points of View: Tabs for result options “Full Text” links
Scope 1. How many topics/issues are presented on each database? Conclusion: Points of View has significantly more available issues for research than Opposing Viewpoints. It is clear, then, that Points of View offers more research options for students versus Opposing Viewpoints. If vast options for students is the goal, then Points of View is the ideal database.
Scope 2. On average, how many articles are provided for each topic/issue? In order to find out how many articles are provided in search results, we looked up three common topics that were listed in the “Browse Issues/Topics” pages of the databases (same-sex marriage, obesity, and animal experimentation) and one state-specific issue (Amendment 64).
Conclusion: Points of View database had more than twice the articles that Opposing Viewpoints did on the issues tested. It is relevant to note that on a more local topic currently in the news (Amendment 64), Points of View had 37 results, while OpposingViewpoints had only one. Therefore, Points of View has a wider scope in terms of amount of articles.
Authority 1. Do the points of view articles found on the database fairly represent both/all sides of an issue? In looking at a sampling of same-sex marriage, obesity, and animal experimentation points of view articles from both databases, we found the following: • Opposing Viewpoints • Offers a cover page of articles from different sources • For each of the three issues, the cover page did not equally represent both sides by number of articles for each. • Points of View • Offers a fair and balanced representation of both sides of each issue • Overview of the issue • Point • Counterpoint • Critical Analysis
Conclusion: Points of View database fairly represented each side of the sample issues one hundred percent of the time on its issue cover page. Opposing Viewpoints, on the other hand, showed imbalance in representing each side of the sample issues. While there are certainly more articles than the Points of View ones, these are the cover pages that are shown first when clicking into each issue. In response, Points of View is the better option here. * The sampling of articles on three issues (same-sex marriage, obesity, and animal testing) were taken from each database’s issue cover page and evaluated to come to these conclusions.
Authority 2. Are the articles compiled from reliable, scholarly sources? • In order to answer this question, we looked at the articles that showed up in the “Featured Viewpoints” section of Opposing Viewpoints and the “Points of View” tab of Points of View for the topics same-sex marriage, obesity, and animal experimentation. • We found that the articles came from sources such as the following: • Newspapers • Scholarly journals • Opinions from professors and researchers • Primary sources • Government websites • Content-specific magazines
Conclusion: Because all of the articles sampled came from reliable, scholarly sources, both databases are equal in this aspect of authority.
Recommendation The results are so close that it is difficult to determine a clear “winner;” however, Points of View had one more positive rating in comparison to Opposing Viewpoints. Based on our evaluation of two categories within each of the criteria of audience, purpose, scope, and authority, we recommend the Points of View Reference Center.
