Beyond Belief Correction: Effects of the Truth Sandwich on Perceptions of Fact-checkers and Verification Intentions

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of all conditions in the experiment.

		Fact-check style
		Label: Yes	Label: No	Truth sandwich	No fact-check (control)
Factuality level	False	Condition 1	Condition 2	Condition 5	Condition 0
	Mostly false	Condition 3	Condition 4

Note: Conditions 1–4 follow a classic fact-check format that repeats the false claim in the header and introduction.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

	%	Mean	SD	Min	Max
Gender
Man	48
Woman	52
Prefer not to say	0
Education
Basic education	2
Pre-vocational secondary education	15
Pre-university education	12
Vocational education	32
College	27
University	11
Other	1
Age (years)
16–19	2
20–39	34
40–64	39
65–79	25
80+	1
Familiarity		.		.	.
Yes	14
No	78
Unsure	7
Rating of false claim		2.75	1.08	1	5
Trust in fact-checkers		2.74	.84	1	5
Perceived intention of fact-checker
Positive intentions (composite)		4.77	1.02	1	7
Educate		4.44	1.48	1	7
Inform		5.18	1.38	1	7
Tell the truth		4.74	1.47	1	7
Manipulate		3.41	1.69	1	7
Spread lies		3.12	1.66	1	7
Stimulate critical thinking		4.77	1.42	1	7
Trust in science		4.45	1.15	1	7
Self-perceived media literacy		4.61	1.05	1	7
Selection of subsequent fact-check
Related claim	47
Unrelated claim	41

Table 3. Results of regression analyses where claim credibility is predicted by fact-check formats.

	Rating of false claim
	B [95% CI]	Beta [95% CI]
Control condition: no fact-check	Ref.	Ref.
Classic fact-check formats
Condition 1: label [yes] & factuality [false]	−0.26+	−0.09+
	[−0.53, 0.00]	[−0.18, 0.00]
Condition 2: label [no] & factuality [false]	−0.05	−0.02
	[−0.31, 0.22]	[−0.11, 0.07]
Condition 3: label [yes] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.11	−0.04
	[−0.37, 0.16]	[−0.13, 0.05]
Condition 4: label [no] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.39**	−0.13**
	[−0.66, −0.13]	[−0.23, −0.04]
Truth sandwich (Condition 5)	0.16	0.06
	[−0.10, 0.42]	[−0.03, 0.15]
Constant	2.86***	0.00
	[2.67, 3.04]	[−0.07, 0.07]
R^2	.028
Observations	752

Note: 95% confidence intervals in square brackets. +p < 0.10, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 4. Claim credibility predicted by whether the fact-check includes a label.

	Rating of false claim
	B [95% CI]	Beta [95% CI]
Control condition: no fact-check	Ref.
Fact-check label: yes	−0.18	−0.08
	[−0.42, 0.05]	[−0.18, 0.02]
Fact-check label: no	−0.09	−0.04
	[−0.30, 0.13]	[−0.14, 0.06]
Constant	2.86***	0.00
	[2.67, 3.04]	[−0.07, 0.07]
R^2	.004
Observations	752

Note: 95% confidence intervals in square brackets. ***p < 0.001.

Table 5. Results of regression analyses where perceived intentions of fact-checkers are predicted by fact-check formats.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
	Positive intentions (composite)	Educate	Inform	Tell the truth	Manipulate	Spread lies	Stimulate critical thinking
Condition 5: truth sandwich	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Condition 1: label [yes] & factuality [false]	−0.26*	−0.27	−0.41*	−0.04	0.31	0.40+	−0.10
	[−0.51, −0.00]	[−0.64, 0.09]	[−0.75, −0.06]	[−0.41, 0.32]	[−0.11, 0.72]	[−0.01, 0.82]	[−0.45, 0.25]
	(−.10)*	(−.07)	(−.11)*	(−.01)	(.07)	(.10)+	(−.03)
Condition 2: label [no] & factuality [false]	−0.29*	−0.39*	−0.37*	−0.21	0.26	0.34	−0.14
	[−0.53, −0.04]	[−0.75, −0.03]	[−0.71, −0.04]	[−0.57, 0.16]	[−0.15, 0.68]	[−0.07, 0.75]	[−0.49, 0.20]
	(−.11)*	(−.11)*	(−.11)*	(−.06)	(.06)	(.08)	(−.04)
Condition 3: label [yes] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.08	−0.21	−0.15	−0.01	0.11	0.25	0.26
	[−0.33, 0.17]	[−0.58, 0.15]	[−0.49, 0.19]	[−0.37, 0.36]	[−0.30, 0.53]	[−0.16, 0.66]	[−0.08, 0.61]
	(−.03)	(−.06)	(−.04)	(−.00)	(.03)	(.06)	(.07)
Condition 4: label [no] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.34**	−0.27	−0.39*	−0.38*	0.30	0.37+	−0.30+
	[−0.59, −0.09]	[−0.64, 0.09]	[−0.73, −0.05]	[−0.74, −0.02]	[−0.11, 0.72]	[−0.05, 0.78]	[−0.65, 0.05]
	(−.13)**	(−.07)	(−.11)*	(−.10)*	(.07)	(.09)+	(−.08)+
Constant	4.95***	4.67***	5.44***	4.86***	3.22***	2.85***	4.82***
	[4.78, 5.13]	[4.41, 4.92]	[5.20, 5.68]	[4.61, 5.11]	[2.92, 3.51]	[2.57, 3.14]	[4.58, 5.07]
R^2	.02*	.01	.01	.01	.01	.01	.02*
Observations	624	624	624	624	624	624	624

Note: Estimates are unstandardized regression coefficients. 95% confidence intervals in square brackets and standardized regression coefficients in parentheses. +p < 0.10, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table 6. Results of regression analyses where selection of subsequent fact-checks is predicted by initial fact-check formats.

	(1)	(2)	(3)
	At least one fact-check	Same topic fact-check	Other topic fact-check
Control condition: no fact-check	Ref.	Ref.	Ref.
Condition 1: label [yes] & factuality [false]	−0.05	−0.05	−0.13*
	[−0.17, 0.07]	[−0.18, 0.07]	[−0.25, −0.00]
	(−0.04)	(−0.04)	(−0.09*)
Condition 2: label [no] & factuality [false]	−0.12*	−0.07	−0.18**
	[−0.24, −0.00]	[−0.19, 0.06]	[−0.30, −0.06]
	(−0.09*)	(−0.05)	(−0.14**)
Condition 3: label [yes] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.01	−0.01	−0.09
	[−0.12, 0.11]	[−0.14, 0.11]	[−0.21, 0.03]
	(−0.01)	(−0.01)	(−0.07)
Condition 4: label [no] & factuality [mostly false]	−0.13*	−0.09	−0.20**
	[−0.25, −0.02]	[−0.21, 0.04]	[−0.32, −0.08]
	(−0.10*)	(−0.06)	(−0.15**)
Condition 5: truth sandwich	−0.04	−0.02	−0.12*
	[−0.16, 0.07]	[−0.14, 0.11]	[−0.24, −0.00]
	(−0.03)	(−0.01)	(−0.09*)
Constant	0.71***	0.51***	0.53***
	[0.63, 0.79]	[0.42, 0.59]	[0.45, 0.62]
R^2	.02	.004	.02*
Observations	752	752	752

Note: Estimates are unstandardized regression coefficients. 95% confidence intervals in square brackets and standardized regression coefficients in parentheses. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

Table A1. Results of regression analyses where claim credibility is predicted by fact-check formats.

	(1)	(2)
	Partially false claim	Accurate claim
Condition 0: Control condition: no fact-check	Ref.	Ref.
Condition 1: label [yes] & factuality [false]	−0.15	0.06
	(0.13)	(0.11)
Condition 2: label [no] & factuality [false]	−0.02	−0.01
	(0.13)	(0.11)
Condition 3: label [yes] & factuality [mostly false]	0.14	0.10
	(0.13)	(0.11)
Condition 4: label [no] & factuality [mostly false]	0.02	−0.07
	(0.13)	(0.11)
Condition 5: truth sandwich	0.14	−0.03
	(0.12)	(0.11)
Constant	2.92***	3.91***
	(0.09)	(0.08)
Observations	752	752

Note: Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.001.

Table A2. Claim credibility predicted by whether the fact-check includes a label.

	(1)	(2)
	Partially false claim	Accurate claim
Control condition: no fact-check	Ref.	Ref.
Fact-check label: yes	−0.00	0.08
	(0.11)	(0.10)
Fact-check label: no	0.05	−0.03
	(0.10)	(0.09)
Constant	2.92***	3.91***
	(0.09)	(0.08)
Observations	752	752

Note: Standard errors in parentheses. ***p < 0.001.