Evaluating Web Sites - Example 3

Source:

The source of this web page is MORI. An "about" link produces a description of it as a market and public opinion research agency founded in 1969 and based in London. Its web domain is another example of a British web site using an American-style dot-com domain name. The about page indicates that MORI belongs to a number of trade organizations (e.g., BMRA, British Market Research Association, which can be found in a standard associations directory, Gale's Ready Reference Shelf, accessible from OCC Libraries' articles page). The about page provides testimonials from customers, and other information that add up to a picture of MORI as an authoritative institution.
The MORI web site has a link to a contact page with multiple modes of reaching the company.
The authors of the article under review here appear to be operating in their areas of expertise (medical research and polling), as indicated by their affiliations. These affiliations (and credentials for Carter) can be located on the web (Google search):
- Declan Mulkeen: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/index/about/about-contact/about-head_office/about-research_management_group/about-programme_managers_for_nmhb.htm
- Simon Carter: http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/hsru/staff/scarter.html

Content:

The web page appears to be an objective report of polling done to determine the British public's attitude to and knowledge of research that uses animals. The authors reveal their support of such research, but their study appears to present objective facts about people's opinions.
The study was done in 1999.
The page links to a 63-page PDF file describing in detail the study's methodology and results.
Searches in Google, BUBL (a British scholarly subject directory), and Open Directory (all available from OCC Libraries' Internet Search) on "animal experiments" and polls turned up several references to the MORI study. These searches also reveal the existence of a dot-org, Research America, that advocates medical research using animals and does periodic polls to gauge public support or lack of support for such research. (Type animals in their search box.)