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ERIC Number: EJ1476421
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Jul
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1746-1979
EISSN: EISSN-1746-1987
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The Risky News Sharing Quotient (RNSQ): A Research Instrument for Exploring News-Sharing Behaviour That Spreads Fake News
Tania Josephine Martin1; Yoan Gutiérrez Vázquez1; Robiert Sepúlveda-Torres1; José Ignacio Abreu Salas1
Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, v20 n2 p257-279 2025
The spread of fake news (FN) has attracted attention from disciplines ranging from social sciences to Artificial Intelligence. This work is novel because it explores the news-sharing behaviour of social-media users, focussing on those that spread FN, rather than the psychological motivations behind them. The 14-item Risky News-Sharing Quotient (RNSQ) was developed and Exploratory Factor Analysis discovered three relevant factors: (i) news-sharing behaviour that contributes to debunking FN; (ii) news-sharing frequency and attitudes to sharing; and (iii) news-sharing behaviour that contributes to the spread of FN. The study, conducted among university students, found that 75% reported risky news-sharing behaviour that spreads FN. No link was found between perceiving FN as a problem and debunking it. Moreover, 83% of survey participants were unable to identify a FN story. Overall, the findings suggest an inability to apply knowledge of the relevant FN detection strategies to debunk FN, but importantly an apparent lack of motivation to check the veracity of a news story. From these conclusions, better-informed educational intervention strategies can be implemented to address the FN problem in-situ, such as promoting the importance of responsible news-sharing by raising awareness of how the spread of FN can impede the proper functioning of societies.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Spain
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Universidad de Alicante, Spain