Showing papers on "Credibility published in 1994"

Contingent Valuation: Is Some Number Better than No Number?

Abstract: Without market outcomes for comparison, internal consistency tests, particularly adding-up tests, are needed for credibility. When tested, contingent valuation has failed. Proponents find surveys tested poorly done. To the authors' knowledge, no survey has passed these tests. The 'embedding effect' is the similarity of willingness-to-pay responses that theory suggests (and sometimes requires) be different. This problem has long been recognized but not solved. The authors conclude that current methods are not suitable for damage assessment or benefit-cost analysis. They believe the problems come from an absence of preferences, not a flaw in survey methodology, making improvement unlikely.

Entrepreneurial Potential and Potential Entrepreneurs

Abstract: Offers a model of entrepreneurial potential based on a social psychology perspective; the approach is a process-based, theory-driven micro-model. The model draws on cognition-based literature on intentions and theory and Albert Shapero's model of the entrepreneurial event, and builds on two previous models. In Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, three key attitudes predict intentions: attitude toward the act, social norms, and perceived behavior control. In Shapero's model, human behavior is governed by inertia until it is interrupted or displaced; the choice of resultant behavior (i.e., entrepreneurial event) depends on credibility of alternatives and some propensity to act (which constitute potential), which exist prior to the displacement. The proposed model has three major components: (1) perceived venture desirability, which comprises "attitude toward the act" and social norms; (2) perceived venture feasibility, which is a person's perceived ability to execute some target behavior; and (3) propensity to act. The first two components create credibility, which when combined with the third create potential. Potential coupled with interruption or displacement creates the intention. Some prescriptions for public policy are offered. Public policies must foster environments congenial to creating potential entrepreneurs; policies must increase the perceived feasibility and desirability for entrepreneurs; and they must support the general perception that entrepreneurial activity is both desirable and feasible. For corporations, individuals must perceive positive outcomes for internal venturing, plus intrinsic rewards and supportive culture; management must show commitment to risk-taking and innovation. In all, creating perceived feasibility is paramount. (TNM)

Heuristic processing can bias systematic processing : effects of source credibility, argument ambiguity, and task importance on attitude judgment

Abstract: High- and low-task-importance Ss read a strong or weak unambiguous message or an ambiguous message that was attributed to a high- or low-credibility source. Under low task importance, heuristic processing of the credibility cue was the sole determinant of Ss' attitudes, regardless of argument ambiguity or strength. When task importance was high and message content was unambiguous, systematic processing alone determined attitudes when this content contradicted the validity of the credibility heuristic; when message content did not contradict this heuristic, systematic and heuristic processing determined attitudes independently. Finally, when task importance was high and message content was ambiguous, heuristic and systematic processing again both influenced attitudes. Yet, source credibility affected persuasion partly through its impact on the valence of systematic processing, confirming that heuristic processing can bias systematic processing when evidence is ambiguous. Implications for persuasion and other social judgment phenomena are discussed.

The Moderating Effects of Message Framing and Source Credibility on the Price-perceived Risk Relationship

Abstract: One factor that research has identified as a critical determinant of consumers' willingness to buy a new product or brand is the perceived risk associated with the purchase. Consequently, a better understanding of the factors affecting consumers' perceptions of the financial and performance risk entailed by the purchase of a new brand is of both theoretical and pragmatic importance. Previous research has suggested that a new product's price affects consumers' perceptions of risk. The current article extends and integrates previous research by proposing that the effect of price on consumers' perceptions of risk is moderated by two communication factors: message framing and source credibility. The results of an experiment support the predictions that the influence of price on consumers' perceptions of performance risk is greater when the message is framed negatively or the credibility of the source is low. In addition, the results support the prediction that the effect of price on consumers' perceptions of financial risk is greater when the message is framed positively.

Improving service quality in America: Lessons learned

Abstract: Executive Overview Delivering excellent service is a winning strategy. Quality service sustains customers' confidence and is essential for a competitive advantage. Yet many companies are struggling to improve service, wasting money on ill-conceived service programs and undermining credibility with management rhetoric not backed up with action. Are there guidelines to help managers chart a service-improvement strategy for their organizations? We think so. In this article ten lessons from an extensive ten-year study of service quality in America are presented—lessons that we believe apply across industries and are essential to the service-improvement journey.

Credibility of Policies Versus Credibility of Policymakers

Abstract: Standard models of policy credibility, defined as the expectation that an announced policy will be carried out, emphasize the preferences of the policymaker and the role of tough policies in signaling toughness and raising credibility. Whether a policy is carried out, however, will also reflect the state of the economy. We present a model in which a policymaker maintains a fixed parity in good times, but devalues if the unemployment rate gets too high. Our main conclusion is that if there is persistence in unemployment, observing a tough policy in a given period may lower rather than raise the credibility of a no-devaluation pledge in subsequent periods. We test this implication on EMS interest rates and find support for our hypothesis.

An Integrative Framework for Understanding Two-sided Persuasion

Abstract: This article develops a framework that encompasses past two-sided persuasion research and incorporates additional theory and research on optimal arousal and attitude toward the ad to provide explanations for inconsistencies in previous findings. In particular, explanations are provided for the following: (1) when credibility gains will be enhanced, (2) when refutation is needed, (3) how the message should be structured (in terms of amount and placement of negative information), and (4) what types of attributes should be discounted (in terms of importance, type, and correlation with other attributes). In addition, directions for future research are discussed.

The Effects of Credibility, Reliance, and Exposure on Media Agenda-Setting: A Path Analysis Model

Abstract: This study examined three audience attributes in the agenda-setting process: individuals' perceived credibility of the news media, their reliance on the news media for information, and their exposure to media messages. A model of agenda-setting is proposed based on the assumptions that if individuals perceive the media to be highly credible, they will rely on the media for information, will increase their exposure to media messages, and in turn will become more susceptible to agenda-setting effects. A path analysis supports the model. All path coefficients in the final model are statistically significant. Effects coefficients suggest that only exposure plays a major role in determining the intensity of agenda-setting effects. A secondary analysis discovered that a credibility index - dealing with community affiliation - also had a direct effect on media agenda-setting.

Perceptions of Children's Credibility in Sexual Assault Cases1

Abstract: Children's testimony often plays a central role in prosecutions of child sexual abuse. Nevertheless, research on jurors' perceptions of the credibility of child sexual assault victims remains limited. In three experiments, we examined mock jurors' reactions to children's testimony about sexual abuse. Participant jurors were exposed to videotaped or written scenarios of child sexual abuse trials and then rated victim credibility and defendant guilt. Analyses indicated that: (a) victim age was either inversely related or unrelated to perceptions of victim credibility, (b) women were more likely than men to find child victims credible, (c) corroborating testimony from a child victim increased the credibility of another child victim, and (d) exposure of participants to past criminal acts and other negative defendant character evidence heightened perceived victim credibility and defendant guilt. Implications for understanding jurors' reactions to child witnesses are discussed.

Scientific Rigour in Qualitative Research—Examples From a Study of Women's Health in Family Practice

Abstract: The increase in qualitative research in family medicine raises a demand for critical discussions about design, methods and conclusions. This article shows how scientific claims for truthful findings and neutrality can be assessed. Established concepts such as validity, reliability, objectivity and generalization cannot be used in qualitative research. Alternative criteria for scientific rigour, initially introduced by Lincoln and Guba, are presented: credibility, dependability, confirmability and transferability. These criteria have been applied to a research project, a qualitative study with in-depth interviews with female patients suffering from chronic pain in the locomotor system. The interview data were analysed on the basis of grounded theory. The proposed indicators for scientific rigour were shown to be useful when applied to the research project. Several examples are given. Difficulties in the use of the alternative criteria are also discussed.

Alliances, Credibility, and Peacetime Costs

Abstract: Alliances are not perfectly credible. Although alliances raise the probability of intervention into war, many allies do not honor their promise in wartime. A formal model of alliances as signals of...

Parental perceptions of children's financial socialization

Abstract: Twenty-seven financial items were included in a questionnaire and 182 parents responded to the age they felt is most appropriate to share that family financial information or be involved in the financial activity. The most consensus was among parents as to what the very young are ready to learn and that children approximately 18 are ready for credit experiences. The items related to knowing about family income, savings, and indebtedness had the highest percentage of parents believing children should never know about that information. Most of the parents believed that children ages 12 to 14 and 15 to 17 were ready to be involved in family finances. However, most parents thought children were not ready to establish their own financial credibility or a credit history and build assets until 18 years of age or older.

Validating a Scale for the Measurement of Credibility: A Covariance Structure Modeling Approach.

Abstract: This study was designed to cross-validate a widely used set of standard credibility scales in an attempt to further understand reliability and validity of credibility research.

Political psychology or politicized psychology: Is the road to scientific hell paved with good moral intentions?

Abstract: This article proceeds from the premise that a completely value-neutral political psychology is impossible. Testing hypotheses about the efficacy of deterrence or the pervasiveness of racism or the quality of decision making inevitably requires value-charged trade-offs between Type I errors (rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true) and Type II errors (failing to reject the null hypothesis when it is false). The article goes on, however, to argue that our collective credibility as a science depends on self-critical efforts to monitor and minimize the influence of scientifically irrelevant values on inquiry. I identify two examples of research programs-White's work on deterrence and the Sears and Kinder work on symbolic racism-in which the moral-political values of the investigators appear to have profoundly shaped standards of evidence and proof in testing competing hypotheses. I also identify logical and empirical strategies that investigators can use to check the influence of extraneous values. These strategies include rigorous skepticism toward counterfactuals that underlie causal claims in historical analyses, embedding of experimental manipulations in representative sample surveys to isolate determinants of public opinion, developing methods to translate case studies into standardized data languages so that we can more readily identify potential sources of bias, and continual open-mindedness to the possibility that patterns of thinking that scholarly observers laud as cognitively or morally superior in one set of political settings may look quite maladaptive or immoral in other political settings. The article closes with a transparently valueladen appeal to preserve the autonomy of political psychology as a science by distinguishing sharply between when we speak for a scientific discipline and when we speak as concerned citizens.

Source v. Content Effects on Judgments of News Believability

Abstract: A between-groups 3 × 3 factorial experiment (N=516) tests effects of message type and source reputation on judgments of news believability, judgments conceptualized as source credibility (judgments about the source), and assessments of apparent reality (judgments about the message content). Three indices combining measures of source credibility and message apparent reality emerge from a factor analysis, comprising judgments of (1) source truthfulness and message accuracy, (2) source expertise and message representativeness, and (3) source bias and personal perspective. The results show that a more innocuous message results in more positive judgments of believability, but the reputation of the source has no direct effect on believability judgments, nor does it interact with message type. It is concluded that at least some publics base judgments of news believability more on judgments of the apparent reality of message content rather than on the reputation of the media source.

Modelling patient flows and resource provision in health systems

Abstract: Patient flow models may be used for planning health services for both acute and chronic patients. There are models which assume sub-groups of patients are homogenous and events occur at equally spaced intervals of time. These include Markov and semi-Markov chain models, queueing models and deterministic models of the transition of patients between states. These techniques are useful for examining patient flow in large population groups where Markov assumptions, or simple extensions of these, can be made. Discrete event simulation models allow patients to have individual attributes and to interact with resource provision but they are more time consuming to test and run. They are particularly suitable for models of systems of patient care where the constraints on resource availability are important. They may also be used on unconstrained population models with several thousands of patients. A significant development in simulation is the facility to model entities so that they can participate in more than one activity simultaneously and interrupt each other. The credibility of any model is dependent on reliable data which are not always readily available in the British Health Service.

Influences on Use of Sources at Large U.S. Newspapers.

Abstract: Journalists' own orientations are a major determinant in choice of sources, but pressures from within their organization and their professional background also are substantial influences.

The Relationship of Attitudinal Components to Trust in Media

Abstract: Past research has proposed that the receiver's relationship to the content of a message will affect credibility attributed to the source. Current literature proposes explanatory mechanisms that require empirical distinctions among the various components of attitude, yet researchers often employ measures of “attitude extremity” that confound these components. This study follows Guttman's mathematical theory of attitude and its distinctions between four attitude components: direction, intensity, closure, and involvement. In a survey of 358 adults, relationships between trust in television news and newspaper coverage and each of the four components were tested for six current issues. Significant relationships were found for all four components. Results suggest that existing hypotheses relating credibility to attitude have not anticipated that credibility might be related to more than one component. Interactions occur in which the relation of credibility to one component would be modified by the presence of s...

Exploring the benefits of a subjective approach in qualitative nursing research

Abstract: The increasing credibility of qualitative approaches for research in nursing has opened up new debates about methodology and rigour. Traditionally, qualitative methods have been scrutinized using some criteria that are more pertinent for quantitative research. The transition to a more subjective, reflexive approach to nursing research may be painful, but brings benefits. With the loss of scientific rigour comes the gain of eliciting true meaning, by recreating the experiences of others through co-operative enquiry. An openly subjective approach allows the researcher to be a real partner with informants, and to openly use her own experiences and reflections in order to uncover valuable meaning and to find a different type of objectivity. This paper explores some of the issues that are of concern and some of the benefits that may result from an openly subjective approach in qualitative nursing research.

Commercial Lenders' Use of Accounting Information in Interaction with Source Credibility*

Abstract: . The credibility of individual commercial borrowers, which lenders refer to as “character,” affects lenders' use of accounting information. This effect of source credibility is subtle compared to the effect of external audits on the use of financial statements in other contexts. It is hypothesized that accounting facts must be positive (supporting loan approval) for character facts to influence lenders' judgments and loan decisions. Character facts will not affect judgments or loan decisions significantly when accounting facts are negative (supporting loan denial). This accounting/character interaction is predicted to become stronger as lenders gain experience and develop criteria for evaluating character. In an experiment, lenders read a loan application that contained facts concerning accounting, character, and other information; the accounting and character facts were manipulated to be either positive or negative, resulting in four versions of the application. The lenders recommended approval or denial of the loan and estimated the likelihood that the loan would be fully repaid (a risk estimate). Interactive effects of accounting and character facts on lenders' loan decisions and risk estimates were found, but the accounting/character interactions generally did not vary with experience level. One notable difference was that experienced lenders never approved loans when accounting facts were negative, but inexperienced lenders sometimes did.

Crafting educational intervention research that's both credible and creditable

Abstract: Pressley and Harris' concerns about the current quality of educational intervention research are applauded. They are also extended to distinguish between research credibility (scientific believability) and research creditability (educational commendability). A “best possible” design philosophy is introduced to enable intervention researchers to craft research that is both credible and creditable.

Credibility assessment of criminal suspects through statement analysis.

Abstract: This paper discusses the research and theoretical underpinnings of statement analysis tehniques for credibility assessment purposes with criminal suspects. Although the principles of statement analysis have long been recognized, only recently have specific techniques been formalized. It is argued that, in seeking patterns of verbal deception in the interrogation context it is necessary to integrate theories considering emotional, motivational, cognitive, and linguistic factors. Approaches emphasizing memory suggest that there exist systematic differences between accurate and inaccurate memory accounts. Approaches emphasizing deception indicate that discernible differences may exist between truthful and dishonest language behaviors. Directions for future research are described focussing on the need for eclectic strategies with both experimental and field studies.

Sociological Analysis and Education Management: the social context of the self‐managing school

Abstract: In this paper I take issue with the claim of Ozga (1992) that because of the poor quality of many recent texts on education management, and their lack of a sociological perspective, they are not proper material for analysis in the British Journal of Sociology of Education. I argue that sociological analysis of such texts is an urgent priority because they have gained credibility among education practitioners and provide a spurious legitimacy to new right policy directions. This general argument is illustrated by focussing on four specific limitations of one of the most popular current texts on education management.

Research Paradigms, Values, and Spouse Abuse

Abstract: This article invites dialogue on qualitative research strategies for understanding the social contextual and subjective complexities of interpersonal violence. The epistemological assumptions and practical challenges of qualitative methods are contrasted with traditional quantitative approaches. The authors assert that (a) the differences between the two approaches are not paradigmatic, in the Kuhnian sense of scientific revolutions; (b) there are important links, yet no necessary connections, between a feminist ethos in the social sciences and qualitative methods; (c) both qualitative and quantitative methodologists wish to increase the credibility of research findings, and may benefit from conceptual cross-fertilization; and (d) questions of values and politics in research on spouse abuse cannot be reduced to questions of methodology. Throughout, the article advocates both methodological diversity and rigor in the effort to understand spousal violence.