This study examined how user comments influence perceptions of a less-controversial news story. The results of a 2 (argument direction: supporting vs. dissenting comments) × 2 (evidence type: anecdotal vs. scientific evidence referenced in comments) between-subjects factorial design experiment with a no-comments control group ( N = 426) showed that comments have independent effects on the evaluation of medical science news stories on perceived relevance, uncertainty, and risk perception. Also, the types of comments interact with participants’ intellectual humility and subjective numeracy. The findings illustrate that comments may have a deleterious impact on audience perception of journalistic stories and scientific issues.
This study examined whether framing, exemplar presence and exemplar race in social media news posts influence rural White men’s perceptions, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward clinical trial participation, and if so, how individual trust in doctors moderates the effects of these three factors. An experiment with a 2 within (framing: cognitive versus psychological barriers) × 2 within (exemplar: present versus absent) × 2 between (exemplar race: White versus Black) subjects mixed factorial design was conducted among rural White men (N = 208). Twelve social media news posts about clinical trial participation were created for the experiment. Results revealed that respondents had greater behavioral intentions to participate in clinical trials after seeing posts with exemplars present (versus absent). When news posts addressed cognitive barriers (e.g. lacking knowledge about the value of clinical trials), the presence of exemplars enhanced perceived self-efficacy to participate in clinical trials. Participants with lower trust in doctors reported more favorable attitudes to posts with exemplars, and the posts with Black exemplars were perceived as more effective (approaching statistical significance). When communicating about clinical trials to rural White men, health professionals should consider including exemplars and addressing cognitive barriers to participation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.