Media and Information Literacy Tutorials as Preemptive Intervention Against Disinformation: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Abstract

In an era where disinformation proliferates rapidly, enhancing individuals' knowledge and abilities to critically evaluate information is paramount. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) video tutorials as a prebunking intervention in improving college students' knowledge of social media, their ability to detect disinformation, and their tendency to share accurate news. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest two-group design was implemented in a state university in Bacolor, Pampanga. Respondents in the experimental group were exposed to video tutorials for three sessions in a span of three days. Initially, the intent was to divide participants equally into treatment and control groups. However, due to implementation constraints, this was not followed strictly. Pretreatment sample sizes were: treatment group (n=47), control group (n=56). Final sample sizes were: treatment group (n = 44), control group (n = 55). Independent samples t-test and Cohen’s d effect sizes were computed to evaluate between-group differences. Data was statistically tested for reliability, normality, and homogeneity of variances. While the treatment group exhibited improvements across all measured variables (i.e., social media knowledge, detecting disinformation, and sharing accurate news) after exposure to the tutorials, the differences compared to the control group were not statistically significant. These findings suggest that brief interventions may have limited impact, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and sustained approaches to effectively bolster critical evaluation skills. However, focusing on the treatment group alone, results showed statistically significant differences across all measured variables after exposure. This positive trend is also reflected in terms of the magnitude of difference, suggesting practical improvements in the treatment group. Future research should explore the integration of media and information literacy video tutorials as a preventive intervention into broader educational curricula and assess their long-term efficacy in combating disinformation.