Media Effects Research Lab - Research Archive
The Effects of Modality and Information Slant On Pro-lean Attitude And Perceived Credibility
Student Researcher(s)
Fangxiao Li (Ph.D Candidate);
Tim Prestby (Ph.D Candidate);
Faculty Supervisor
Introduction
This study intends to address the issue of lack of uptake for lean construction, a production management approach aimed to reduce waste and improve efficiency. Accordingly, we investigated how visualizations the framing of visualization titles can influence people’s attitudes toward lean construction and people’s assessment of message credibility.
Research Question/Hypothesis
RQ1: For construction managers, controlling for the sample group, familiarity with lean, and familiarity with information graphics, what is the relationship between the modality (text or text + visualizations) and degree of positive attitude toward Lean Construction and level of perceived credibility?
RQ2: For construction managers, controlling for the sample group, familiarity with lean, and familiarity with information graphics, what is the relationship between information slant, presented in conjunction with an illustrative story of lean, and user perceptions of credibility and attitudes?
H1: Participants who view text + visualizations will report more positive attitudes toward lean than participants who view just text.
H2: Participants who view text + visualizations will report higher perceived credibility than participants who view just text.
H3: Participants who view contradictory information will report lower perceived credibility than participants who view consistent information.
H4: Participants who view contradictory information will report more negative attitudes toward lean than participants who view consistent information.
Method
We conducted a post-manipulation between-subjects online experiment with a sample of 87 participants from CloudConnect (N=40) and Penn State Architectural Engineering (N=47). Demographic information is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Participant Demographics by Sampling Group (PSU Students and Cloud)
Participants were randomly assigned to view one of the three longform stories (Figure 2) with varying conditions of the independent variables before answering a questionnaire. The questionnaire included 7-point Likert-type questions that measured reactions to the story including attitude (M=4.23, SD=0.65), perceived credibility (M=4.07, SD=1.1), perceived understanding (M=4.67, SD=0.88), and control variables including familiarity with lean construction and infographics. We conducted MANCOVA tests and LSMeans Tukey’s HSD to analyze our data.
Figure 2. Stimuli in Study: Frames of the Longform Stories
Results
The MANCOVA tests investigating hypotheses 1-4 did not yield any statistically significant results. For each MANCOVA test associated with the hypotheses, the corresponding LSMeans Tukey’s HSD tests indicated that there was no significant difference between dependent variables (attitude and credibility). However, we did find significant interaction effects between information slant and familiarity with lean on attitude (F = 10.50, DF = 1, p < 0.01) (Figure 3) and understanding (F = 4.27, DF = 1, p = 0.04).
Figure 3. Interaction Between Familiarity with Lean and Slant on Attitude
Conclusions/Discussion
Our results indicate that modality did not have any effect on people’s attitudes toward lean and perceived credibility of information. The inclusion of visualizations may not have elevated attitude change and perceived credibility as the combination of visualizations and text may have resulted in cognitive overload for readers as they fail to process the two modes of communication simultaneously (Broadbent, 1958). Information slant may not have affected people’s attitudes and perceived credibility due to the visualization being nested within a larger story that is framed according to a single side: advocating for lean construction. The found interactions suggest that different communication approaches should be taken depending on the independent audience’s familiarity with a subject and familiarity with a communication medium.
For more details regarding the study contact
Dr. S. Shyam Sundar by e-mail at sss12@psu.edu or by telephone at (814) 865-2173