Eric F. Shaver

Effect of presentation modality in direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug television advertisements.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising markets medications requiring a physicians script to the general public. In television advertising, risk disclosures (such as side effects and contraindications) may be communicated in either auditory (voice) or visual (text) or both in the commercials. This research examines presentation modality factors affecting the communication of the risk disclosures in DTC prescription drug television commercials. The results showed that risk disclosures presented either visually only or both visually and auditorily increased recall and recognition compared to no presentation. Risk disclosures presented redundantly in both the visual and auditory modalities produced the highest recall and recognition. Visual only produced better performance than auditory only. Simultaneous presentation of non-risk information together with risk disclosures produced lower recall and recognition compared to risk disclosures alone-without concurrent non-risk information. Implications for the design of DTC prescription drug television commercials and other audio-visual presentations of risk information including on the Internet, are discussed.

A Comparison of Older vs. Newer Over-the-Counter (OTC) Nonprescription Drug Labels on Search Time Accuracy

The present study evaluated response time and accuracy to answer a series of questions of information in 16 (8 older and 8 newer ‘Drug Facts’) over-the-counter (OTC) drug labels. The newer labels include aspects, based on previous research, which should benefit performance. The results indicated that participants response times were significantly faster with the newer labels compared to the older ones. However, this was not true of all OTC product samples. Accuracy was high (error rate low) for both label formats. Response times for females were significantly faster than males for both label types. The benefits of formatting text for facilitating information acquisition from drug labels and other kinds of printed information are discussed.

On Trust in the Internet: Belief Cues from Domain Suffixes and Seals of Approval

Beliefs about the validity and reliability of Internet web-site information is important to both the user and to the success of a site. The present study examined aspects of reported trust of the Internet. A total of 247 participants (171 undergraduate students & 76 non-students) were asked a series of questions. In general, participants reported trusting only 55% of the information they found on the Internet. Students and non-students differed in their trust of .gov and .edu domain suffixes as well as several seals of approval (e.g., Verisign, Trust-e). In addition, the ratings of several fictitious seals were judged as trustworthy at levels as high or higher than actual seals. Participants who use the Internet for more hours per week showed significantly more trust for some domain suffixes and seals of approval than those who use the Internet for fewer hours. A similar pattern was seen for both students and non-students. Implications for erroneous beliefs and use of information on the Internet are discussed.

Attitudes about the Internet: Implications for Use in Education

This study identified beliefs and attitudes about the Internet in relation to different populations of higher education students. A pair of surveys were used to better understand positive and negative attitudes students harbor concerning the WWW and related Internet technologies. The responses were used to both validate what are the most salient positive and negative aspects of the Internet and to reveal differences in attitude toward these aspects based on demographic variables. The results are discussed with respect to the affective dimensions that shape the use of Internet-related technologies and the need for further research into the impact of the Internet on higher education.

Comprehension of different types of prohibitive safety symbols with glance exposure

The comprehension of 16 pictorial safety symbols was examined using a rapid visual exposure technique and 4 types of prohibitive circle-slash variants (over, under, partial, and translucent). Performance was higher for base pictorial images that appeared to depict more concrete, less complex and familiar concepts. Symbols were better understood with the under and translucent slashes. This research has implications for the design of pictorial symbols on roadways and in other environments where exposure to safety information may be brief.

People's Beliefs about the Internet: Surveying the Positive and Negative Aspects

The explosion of the Internet – and the World Wide Web (WWW) in particular – has led to the distribution of information to a much more diverse and unspecified audience. Human factors professionals have a stake in the design of these Internet-based tools and the delivery of information over them. An initial survey distributed to a large diverse population asked respondents to provide positive and negative aspects about the WWW and related Internet communication technologies. The responses (n = 380) were grouped according to general positive and negative categories. Most of the categories paralleled each other on the negative and positive side. Access to information and security dominated both the positive and negative. A second survey had respondents rate 26 positive and negative items based on aspects identified in the first survey. The responses (n = 219) supported the larger categories identified in the first survey and revealed differences in attitude towards the Internet based on age, gender, and student status. These issues, plus others mentioned in the responses, are ones that human factors professionals are in a position to address.

Road Rage: User-Reported Antecedents and Potential Solutions

Road rage (intentional high risk driving behavior) is a factor that increases the likelihood that a driver will be involved in a vehicle crash. The focus of this study was to determine potential antecedents of road rage and methods to prevent road rage. A sample of 372 participants were surveyed. Based upon responses, participant profiles were established to analyze the data. Analyses using Chi-square and Fishers Exact test revealed a significant negative relationship between age and the tendency toward aggressive driving, particularly tailgating. in addition, content analysis revealed a number of potential antecedents of and solutions to road rage. Human factors implications are discussed.

Identifying What Drivers Know about the Hazards of Air Bags to Children

The purpose of air bags is to prevent serious injury of occupants involved in vehicular accidents. Although lives have been saved by air bags, certain subpopulations have a greater risk for personal injury or death; namely, children and small-stature adults. The present research had two parts. The first was a survey in which participants were asked the minimum recommended age limit for children in the front seat according to the visor warning in vehicles with passenger-side air bags. The results indicated that on average minimum age reported by participants (M = 8.8 yrs, SD = 3.4) is significantly lower than the recommended age of 13, t(244) = −23.94, p < .0001. The second part was a field study that evaluated whether young children were (a) located in the front seat of vehicles equipped with passenger-side air bags, and (b) if the occupants of the vehicle wore their seat belts. The results indicate that 16% (n = 24) of the children being dropped off or picked up at an elementary school rode in the front seat of vehicles equipped with passenger-side air bags. Also, 11% (n = 16) of the drivers and 27% (n = 56) of the children were not wearing seat belts. Implications of the study with respect to warnings are discussed.