Browsing by Author "Long, Marilee, advisor"
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Item Open Access A rhetorical storm: linguistic analysis of uncertainty in severe weather communication(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Rosen, Zoey, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Demuth, Julie, committee member; Schumacher, Russ, committee memberWeather forecasts are a product with inherent uncertainty and a wide audience (Compton, 2018). Known as an example of prediction rhetoric (Morss, Demuth, & Lazo, 2008), weather forecasts have been found to be influenced by linguistic and cultural factors in case studies (Pennesi, 2007). However, forecasts are still rarely studied as articles of rhetoric (Compton, 2018). This study analyzed patterns amongst the linguistics of uncertainty expressions in Twitter forecasts during a cluster of tornadoes in March 2018 through a content analysis. Tornado hazard messaging, due to tornadoes' short-term threat and overarching potential for damage (Ripberger, Jenkins-Smith, Silva, Carlson, & Henderson, 2014), provides an opportunity to study uncertainty language during short-term hazardous scenarios. Across a five-day period, there were N = 2,459 severe weather forecast tweets from 146 Twitter users located in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. Results indicate there were significant relationships between the source of a forecast (i.e., weather media, weather government, and non-weather government) and uncertainty expression. Weather media sources were significantly less likely than government sources (both weather and non-weather) to use uncertainty expressions in their forecast tweets. The state the Twitter source was located also influenced the amount of uncertainty expressed within a forecast. For example, tweets from areas with a greater number of tornadoes were significantly less likely to contain uncertainty expressions than were areas with fewer threats. Also, time (measured as the number of days before tornado touchdown) was shown to have a significant relationship with uncertainty expression, as the amount of uncertainty expressed decreased the closer in time the messages were to the tornadic event. Due to the large amount of uncertainty in weather prediction, meteorological forecasts during severe events provide a unique, fascinating area for future research on risk communication and public safety messaging.Item Open Access Conflicting health-related scientific evidence in news reports: effects of presentation format and hedging on perceived issue uncertainty and source credibility(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Zhang, Hui, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Anderson, Ashley, committee member; Gloeckner, Gene, committee member; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, committee member; Stallones, Lorann, committee memberThis study examined the effects of two journalistic practices in reporting conflicting health-related scientific evidence on journalists’ and scientists’ credibility and whether the effects were mediated by perceived issue uncertainty. The two practices examined were presentation format and hedging. When conflicting findings are reported, journalists can use either a one-article format, using one story to report the conflict, or a two-article format, using two stories with each story representing one side of the conflict. When conflicting findings are reported, journalists can use hedging (e.g., reporting the limitations of scientific studies) to present the conflicting information. An online experiment was conducted to examine the two journalistic practices’ effects. Results include the following: 1) the one-article format was beneficial to journalists’ competence, but detrimental to scientists’ competence, as compared with the two-article format; 2) journalists’ and scientists’ credibility in the hedged news conditions did not differ from those in the non-hedged news conditions; and 3) perceived issue uncertainty did not mediate presentation format’s or hedging’s effects on journalists’ or scientists’ credibility. An exploratory follow-up mediation analysis found that perceived message believability mediated presentation format’s effects on journalists’ and scientists’ credibility. Theoretical, practical, and methodological implications are discussed.Item Open Access Disasters in the media: a content analysis of the March 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami and nuclear disasters(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Stomberg, Danielle R., author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Christen, Cindy, committee member; Kwiatkowski, Lynn, committee memberThis cross-cultural study analyzed online newspaper stories about the March 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami and nuclear disasters from two nationally representative newspapers: the NYTimes.com in the United States and the Yomiuri Shimbun in Japan. This study investigated stories published between March 11, 2011, and April 15, 2011. These online news stories were examined to determine their use of disaster myths, past disasters, media hype, and directly quoted sources. Results show that few disaster myths were used overall; however, there was a difference in the number of panic flight myths used in the newspapers studied. References to past disasters were also measured on whether or not they were in the story. It was more common that stories did not mention a past disaster when reporting about the March 2011 Japan earthquake/tsunami and nuclear disasters. The NYTimes.com used more past disasters in its stories than did the Yomiuri Shimbun; Chernobyl was the most frequently mentioned past disaster. Results also show that there was no evidence of a nuclear crisis media hype in the newspapers during the time period analyzed. The study also investigated differences in the use of sources by the two newspapers. Counter to predictions, the Yomiuri Shimbun did not use more official sources than the NYTimes.com. The results suggest that culture played a role in the two newspapers covered the disaster. A closer investigation into each of the variables investigated in this study and the role of culture in reporting about disasters may be warranted in future research.Item Open Access Evaluating the effects of humorous nutrition-based narratives on intention to consume fruits and vegetables(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Garratt, Kyle, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Rouner, Donna, committee member; Butki, Brian, committee memberThis study tested the viability of humorous narratives as a means to promote fruits and vegetables to adolescents. The study assessed the effects of two types of humorous narratives on transportation, counter-arguing of the message, perceived severity of consequences for not consuming fruits and vegetables, and intention to consume fruits and vegetables. The participants were 67 students at a middle school in the western United States. Participants read either a related-humor narrative, which featured humor related to nutrition, an un-related-humor narrative, which featured humor un-related to nutrition, or a control narrative about a non-nutrition topic. The related and un-related messages did not differ significantly from each other for any of the dependent variables. Neither of the humorous messages differed significantly from the control messages for any of the dependent variables. Participants held favorable pre-exposure attitudes toward eating fruits and vegetables, which may have strongly influenced the high levels of intention to consume fruits and vegetables. The study also had low statistical power, which may have affected the ability to detect effects in the sample. This study suggests that humorous narratives do not offer an advantage in nutrition promotion over non-humorous messages for adolescents. The study discusses implications, future research, and limitations.Item Open Access Exploring Facebook as an online support group for smoking cessation(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Ashley, Stephanie, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Rouner, Donna, committee member; Broadfoot, Kirsten, committee memberThis paper employed a quantitative content analysis of the messages posted to a public Facebook page about smoking cessation. The study's population consisted of posts from October and November of 2010, from which a two-week constructed sample was drawn. The sample yielded 118 threads made up of 344 individual posts for analysis. Within the sample, 98 individuals (35 men, 54 women, 9 unidentifiable) served as the unit of analysis. This research explored the types of messages posted on Facebook to see if participants acted in line with gender norms for communicating online and about health. The types of support explored through the posts were informational, esteem and emotional. Results showed that men and women acted differently on the page than traditional gender norms would predict. Specifically, men and women posted to the page at similar rates and both groups used informational support more often than esteem support or emotional support. Smoking status was related to page use; the most active individuals posting to the page were recent quitters and they had a tendency to use informational and esteem support more often than emotional support. Participants also used Facebook's "like" function more often than posting messages containing overt support.Item Open Access Facebook as a site of stress reduction and resilience amongst trailing wives living in Alaska(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Ward, Linnea Sudduth, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Martey, Rosa, committee member; Switzer, Jamie, committee member; Makela, Carole, committee member; Merolla, Andy, committee memberThis explanatory sequential mixed methodology (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) study considers how Facebook use impacts sojourners' perceived stress and resilience. Forty-one current and retired sojourning "trailing wives"—women who move primarily for their husband's career—located in Anchorage, Alaska, participated in the Phase 1 survey. Phase 1 found support for the predicted negative relationship between perceived stress and Facebook social connectedness, but the predicted positive relationship between Facebook social connectedness and resilience was not significant. Seventeen Phase 2 participants participated in semi-structured interviews, which were then analyzed using the constant comparative method (Strauss & Corbin, 1990), to explore the relationship between Facebook use and resilience further. Interview participants identified Facebook information seeking and social networking activities as particularly helpful in their early sojourn adjustment. Some participants also reported using Facebook and other social media sites (e.g., Instagram) to grow from their sojourn experience by practicing four of the resilience communication processes identified by Buzzanell (2010): drawing upon communication networks, emphasizing identity anchors, fostering optimism, and reframing negative experiences. Implications for practitioners (e.g., sojourners, human resources and mental health professionals) and researchers (across international business and social science disciplines) are also discussed.Item Open Access Forging family outdoor identity: natural conversations about the effect of outdoor experiences on attitudes toward environmental science(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Crockett, Michele, author; Champ, Joseph, advisor; Long, Marilee, advisor; Bright, Alan, committee memberThis study used a qualitative, "walking interview" method to explore how families' outdoor experiences and parent-child interactions affected their attitudes about environmental science. Members of six families--at least one parent and one child--were interviewed during a walk in a city-maintained natural area in Fort Collins, Colorado. The discussion examined the themes of family time spent outdoors, engagement in science topics at school, family discussions about environmental science, and family media use. The conversational data was analyzed using idiographic and nomothetic approaches, from which emerged the theme of family outdoor identity-the extent to which families perceive themselves as outdoor-oriented. Parents in the study exhibited varying degrees of guiding behavior in discussions about environmental science, regardless of whether one of the parents had a science background. Although this study indicated that young children in particular consume very little print media, older children use electronic media, particularly web-based search tools, to find information about environmental topics. In addition, social media emerged as a useful media tool for parents seeking information about environmental topics.Item Open Access Presence, what is it good for? Exploring the benefits of virtual reality at evoking empathy towards the marginalized(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Boehm, Nicholas, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Humphrey, Michael, committee member; Shomaker, Lauren, committee member; Sivakumar, Gayathri, committee member; Stallones, Lorann, committee memberThis study examines the relationship between physical presence and empathy across three technology modalities: 1) virtual reality head-mount displays, 2) desktop virtual reality, and 3) text narratives with photographs displayed on a computer screen. Additionally, it examines if public support for a novel public health intervention increases when participants engage in a perspective-taking exercise designed to evoke empathy. Last, the study explores whether the benefits of empathy arousal, specifically the reduction of stereotypes toward the marginalized, depend on the technology modality used in the perspective-taking exercise. Prior studies have consistently found a positive correlation between physical presence and fear and anxiety, especially studies that have used virtual reality head-mount displays to induce presence. However, few studies have examined the relationship between physical presence and empathy. Although some studies have found a positive correlation between physical presence and empathy, these studies are few, lack comprehensive and consistent measurement, and commonly do not test the superiority of virtual reality head-mount displays at evoking empathy against more traditional technology modalities. Last, studies using virtual reality head-mount displays have found inconsistent results in how empathy affects public support and stereotypes. A 1x4 lab experiment (N = 199) was carried out to fill in these research gaps. Results include the follow: 1) physical presence was higher in the virtual reality head-mount display condition compared to the desktop virtual-reality condition and the text narrative and photograph condition; 2) physical presence was positively correlated with all four dimensions of empathy—perspective taking, fantasy, personal distress, and empathic concern; however, the relationship between presence and empathic concern was moderated by participants' mental health; 3) the amount of empathy participants experienced did not differ by experimental condition; however, cognitive empathy was lower in the control condition compared to each experimental condition; 4) public support was positively correlated with three of the four dimensions of empathy including perspective taking, fantasy, and empathic concern; 5) perceptions of stereotypes of people who inject drugs were higher in the control condition compared to the desktop virtual-reality condition and text narrative condition, but not the virtual reality head-mount display condition. Overall, this study adds to a growing body of literature exploring the benefits of virtual-reality perspective-taking exercises in three important ways. First, this study strengthens the assertion that virtual-reality head-mount displays produce more physical presence compared to desktop virtual reality and text narratives with photographs. Second, aligned with prior research, this study provides evidence of a positive correlation between physical presence and empathy arousal. However, in this study, empathy arousal appears to be increasing presence, which is a different causal pathway then the study predicted.Last, this study found that the virtual-reality head-mount display condition was the only experimental condition that did not significantly reduce stereotypes. Together, these results suggest both potential advantages and disadvantages for using virtual reality in perspective-taking exercises.Item Open Access Relative deprivation, and procedural and distributive justice in National Environmental Policy Act scoping documents(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Bustos, John R., Jr., author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Thompson, Jessica, committee member; Champ, Joseph, committee memberThe U.S. Forest Service often deals with very contentious resource management issues. This contention is wrought by the nature and diversity of people using National Forest system lands. The process for making decisions on the management of these issues is called the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This act describes how decisions will be made and how the public will be involved with these decisions based on the comparison of environmental impacts to alternatives usually developed by Forest Service resource managers before the public input process. The first step in NEPA is called scoping. In many cases this scoping is accomplished by sending a letter out to interested parties, called a scoping letter which describes the proposed action. This study examined NEPA-required scoping using a letter. Participants' attitudes toward the Forest Service and their feelings of justice were measured in reaction to information provided in a scoping letter. Participants were assigned to read one of three scoping letters. One letter provided a proposed action that decreased recreational shooting opportunities by eliminating shooting over a large area of National Forest System lands. The second scoping letter provided a proposed action that increased recreational shooting activities by opening up large areas of National Forest System land to shooting activities. The third scoping letter did not mention any proposed action. This letter described the processes that would be used to decide what the problem was regarding shooting and another process that would be used to decide on solutions to the problem. Participants who received the scoping letter that only provided processes had a more positive attitude toward the Forest Service than participants who received a scoping letter with a proposed action. Participants who received a letter with a proposed action that was not in their favor did not have a significantly more negative attitude toward the Forest Service than those who received a decision that was in their favor. In terms of justice, participants with a negative attitude toward the Forest Service who received a scoping letter with a process did not have significantly different feelings of justice than those who received either letter with a proposed action. Finally, no matter what participant's attitude toward the Forest Service, there was no significant difference in their feelings of justice.Item Open Access Shades of risk: a mixed-methods approach to designing and testing a new hurricane map graphic(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Rosen, Zoey, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Abrams, Katie, committee member; Sivakumar, Gayathri, committee member; Magzamen, Sheryl, committee member; Most, David, committee memberMap graphics are a popular tool for hazard risk communication, layered with numerical, verbal, and visual information to describe an uncertain threat. In the hurricane context, graphics are used to communicate the probability of different threats over a forecasting period. While hurricane graphics have been studied in the past, they have not been analyzed from the design phase through to the intended audience. Additionally, hurricane graphics have not been designed with colorblind-friendly accessibility in mind. This dissertation presents the results of a three-phase, mixed methods study: (a) graphic development, (b) testing with expert user groups, and (c) testing with a public sample. In the development phase (a), I used the best practices for using probability language, color schemes, and localization into map graphics from literature in forecasting, communication, universal design, and emergency management. Additionally, I held informal interviews with professionals from the National Hurricane Center to develop the prototype with their recommendations for the design. In the first testing phase b, I interviewed 19 expert users (emergency managers and meteorologists) from Florida and Louisiana about their preferences for and feedback on the design elements of a new hurricane graphic, as well as if there were individual characteristics that influenced how accurate they were in interpreting wind exceedance data, such as risk perception, confidence, experience, spatial cognition, and numeracy levels. In phase c, I tested the wind exceedance graphic prototypes using a public sample (n = 624) from Louisiana and Florida to gather data on the accuracy of their interpretations for the graphic, again measuring confidence, experience, spatial cognition, and numeracy levels, as well as their design preferences and risk perceptions. The results of the two testing phases (b and c) center around how accurate experts and the public were with interpreting the graphic, as well as if there were other factors that influenced this accuracy, such as spatial cognition or numeracy. Additionally, the results describe both groups' design preferences, risk perceptions of the color schemes and overlays, and how experts think about vulnerability when using the graphic. In both groups, numeracy and spatial cognition were found to predict accuracy of interpretation for a wind exceedance graphic prototype. Likewise, both confidence and experience were found to have a positive relationship with accuracy. Regarding the design choices, both experts and the public preferred a yellow-to-red scheme, though experts thought the yellow-to-red scheme presented the hazard as riskier and the public thought the reds-only was riskier. Adding overlays to the graphic, such as interstates or city landmarks, helped the participants to orient themselves on the map. Experts and the public preferred that there were overlays added to the graphic and scored this version of the graphic as risker than a version without any overlays. The addition of the overlays prompted expert users to think more about the risk and vulnerability of the people in those areas on the map. Vulnerability was conceptualized from both a physical and social standpoint by the experts and applied to how they would use the wind exceedance graphic in a briefing to communicate to their community partners. Overall, this research provides a model for how hazard risk map graphics can be studied from design through implementation. Additionally, I captured how experts think about vulnerability in their communities when shown a forecast map graphic. The conclusion of this dissertation also provides practical recommendations for experts who want to apply the universal design aspects into new hurricane graphics.Item Open Access Sharing health risk behaviors on social media(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Ross, Abigail Lynn, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Sivakumar, Gayathri, committee member; Few, Meara, committee memberThe popularity of social media platforms has provided an outlet for young adults to display risky health behaviors. Previous research has shown sites, such as Facebook provide the perfect platform to share drinking, drug use and sexual behaviors. With the creation of Snapchat and its unique disappearing content affordance, it is the perfect platform to examine how and why young adults display risk health behaviors on social media. A uses and gratifications theoretical framework was used to help understand how and why college students use Snapchat to display risky health behaviors, specifically alcohol and marijuana use. Particularly the researcher was interested gratifications from sharing risky health behaviors on Snapchat, affordances of the platform, if there was a relationship between content sent and received on Snapchat versus Instagram, and if there was a relationship between age and sharing risky health behaviors on Snapchat. Instagram was included as a comparison to Snapchat since the platforms share some affordances and Instagram, like Snapchat, is popular with the age group studied. For this study, 194 participants were recruited from undergraduate journalism classes at Colorado State University to complete an online survey. This population was chosen because it was reasonable to assume that participants were members of Gen-Z, who make up 82% of Snapchat users ("21 Snapchat Stats That Matter to Social Media Marketers," 2020). This sample also included participants who had not reached the legal age for consuming alcohol and marijuana in Colorado, as well as participants who had reached the legal age. The results showed that, when alcohol-related and marijuana-related content were analyzed together, social sharing was the most highly rated gratification from sharing risky health behaviors on Snapchat. When examining affordances, the researcher thought the disappearing content affordance would be the most highly rated reason for using Snapchat. However, it was found that selectivity when sharing content with a few friends was the most highly rated reason for using Snapchat. Results also indicated that participants sent and received alcohol-related and marijuana-related content more often on Snapchat than Instagram. Last, while no relationship was found between age and sending alcohol-related and marijuana-related content, there was a relationship between age and receiving alcohol-related and marijuana-related content. Limitations, practical applications, and recommendations for future research were also discussed.Item Open Access The continued adoption of telecommuting by technical writers: evaluating the impact of economic recession and the events of September 11, 2001(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2004) Hallmark, Bruce Thomas, author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Switzer, Jamie Sneider, committee member; Hopkins, Willie E., committee memberThis study gathered information, through in-depth interviews with eight technical writers, about the perceived attributes of telecommuting. Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory provided a model for understanding the process by which innovations (e.g., technologies, ideas, and practices-such as telecommuting) are adopted or rejected. Participants were asked 34 questions about the five perceived attributes of innovations (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability) as they related to telecommuting. The effects of the U.S. economic recession, which began in 2001 and hit the high-technology industry especially hard, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were also looked at as factors that could influence the continued adoption of telecommuting. Based on the results of the interviews, participants reported all relative advantages (e.g., more time with family, flexible work schedule) and disadvantages (e.g., social isolation, over working) identified in the literature review, in addition to network connectivity problems, which seven participants routinely encountered when working off-site. Telecommuting was reported by participants to be widely compatible with the cultures of their companies, it addressed many personal needs of participants (e.g., higher productivity, personal flexibility), and participants said their work was valued equally with that of their coworkers. Participants reported that the complexity of telecommuting was low, the trialability was high, and observability was enhanced by participants who occasionally switched the days they telecommuted, maintained good communication with coworkers and supervisors, and who produced quality work products. The desirability of telecommuting was not affected by economic factors, and the majority of participants were not concerned about workplace terrorism in the United States. When deciding whether to continue telecommuting, participants indicated that neither the economy nor reactions to September 11, 2001, were factors used by them or their employers. Participants unanimously believed that telecommuting had substantially more benefits than working full time in their primary offices, and they saw it as a viable way to balance the demands of their personal and professional lives. Access to the same range of work options enjoyed by regular employees was reported by the two contract or temporary workers in the study. But regardless of employment status, formal agreements or work contracts did not govern most telecommuting arrangements, which is an oversight that could easily leave both parties vulnerable to a host of problems. This informal approach potentially relegates telecommuting to the status of a work style rather than a legitimate business strategy. Recommendations for further study are included.Item Open Access You've only got your looks to lose: the effects of message framing and individual-level differences on selective exposure to health messages(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Grace, Jesse N., author; Long, Marilee, advisor; Anderson, Ashley, committee member; Graham, Dan, committee memberThis study investigated how individual differences, such as exercise and healthy nutrition involvement, attitudes, and motivations, affect selective exposure to variously framed health messages. The study starts to bridge a gap in the social marketing literature, which mainly focuses on message effectiveness. Yet, it is not possible for a message to successfully promote healthy behavior change if it is not selected in the first place. The study utilized a split-plot, quasi-experimental design. The participants were shown four article headlines per topic; the two topics were healthy nutrition and exercise. For each topic, the article headlines were manipulated in a 2 (motivation frame: appearance vs. health) x 2 (strategy frame: gain vs. loss) within-subjects design. Selective exposure was measured unobtrusively by noting the order in which participants chose articles to read and the amount of time participants spent reading each article they chose. The results show individual differences influence message selection, therefore providing evidence for the importance of individual differences with regard to message framing. The study contributes to selective exposure, strategic communication, and health communication literature, as well as contributing to our knowledge of message tailoring for social marketing of healthy behavior changes and maintenance.