Results from a Large Study, published in 2002, invited 2,684 "average people" to rate the credibility of websites in ten content areas.
The study evaluated the credibility of two live websites randomly assigned from one of ten content categories: e-commerce, entertainment, finance, health, news, nonprofit, opinion or review, search engines, sports, and travel.
The common goals of the three organizations led to a collaborative research effort that may represent the largest web credibility project ever conducted.
The study found that when people assessed a real website's credibility, they did not use rigorous criteria, a contrast to earlier national survey findings by Consumer Reports WebWatch, A Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites (April 16, 2002).
Consumer credibility-related comments about visual design issues occurred with more frequency with websites dedicated to finance, 54.6%, search engines, 52.6%, travel, 50.5%, and e-commerce sites, 46.2%, and less frequently when assessing health, 41.8%, news, 39.6%, and nonprofit, 39.4%.