Raymond W. Preiss

Comparing the Persuasiveness of Narrative and Statistical Evidence Using Meta-Analysis.

This meta‐analysis compares the persuasiveness of using statistical versus narrative (example) evidence across 15 investigations. The results indicate that when comparing messages, statistical evidence is more persuasive than narrative evidence (r = .101).

Assessing Emotionality in Organizational Conflicts

The level of emotions remaining after an organizational conflict has the potential to alter the trajectory of organizational relationships. One hundred seventy-four employees and supervisors reported their memories of a conflict. Results from 11 different organizations indicate that the emotional nature of the recollected narratives increased if the conflicts were perceived as unresolved, remembered as an ongoing series of events, or discussed with the other persons involved in the exchanges. Also, the intensity of the recollected narratives of organizational conflict interactions was greater if the respondents were supervisors or managers or if the other persons involved were administrators. The ways recollected emotional narratives may affect future conflictual interactions and organizational relationships are discussed.

Understanding and using meta-analysis.

Meta-analysis represents a technique with almost limitless potential to improve the practice ofpersons in the health professions. However, the technique is not without limitations that deserve careful consideration when going over any meta-analyticfinding. The essayprovides some perspectives on the possible uses of meta-analyses and standards that permit the evaluation of the worth of any particular meta-analysis. As with primary research, the meta-analytic reviewer must make a decision, and the consumer (reader) must evaluate those choices. This article offers an exploration of those choices and some of the potential consequences of those choices.

Meta-Analytic Examination of the Base-Rate Fallacy

ABSTRACT This paper is a meta-analytic review of the base-rate fallacy in persuasion research. The base-rate fallacy argues that individuals provided a set of statistical conclusions are unable to successfully utilize the statistical information when encountering contrary examples in a message. The meta-analysis provides empirical support for that claim. Results are discussed in the context of base-rate information versus an individuating narrative example. The potential consequences of these judgmental heuristics are applied to the assumptions and claims of the message sidedness/resistance to counterpersuasion literature.

Informational Reception Apprehension and Information from Technology Aversion: Development and Test of a New Construct

In technologically advanced cultures and societies, information acquisition from information technologies is a part of daily life. Human, psychologically detrimental aspects of this process were examined. Previous measurement and research related to computer and information anxieties revealed some of the nature of the difficulties, as well as direct measurement concerns. The construct of informational reception apprehension and existing scales provided a basis for developing a new foundation for measuring and assessing these difficulties. Long and short versions of a new information reception apprehension test for information technology (IRAT–IT) were developed and tested in relation to computers, Internet service, and time on-line. Richer assessment of underlying difficulties drawn from a receiver perspective resulted in reliable and valid scales that meaningfully related this type of information reception apprehension to information-from-technology behaviors. Suggested use in technologically advanced and technologically developing cultures is outlined.

Using Meta-Analyses to Evaluate Curriculum: An Examination of Selected College Textbooks.

This essay uses the results of meta‐analyses examining the effects of various message design strategies to evaluate public speaking and persuasion textbooks. The conclusions of the meta‐analyses are compared to the conclusions and advice offered by textbooks that rely on social scientific studies. The comparisons using four issues (fear appeals, message sidedness, foot‐in‐the‐door/door‐in‐the‐face, and “sleeper”; effect) show that only for the “sleeper”; effect do more than 50% of the textbooks draw conclusions consistent with the meta‐analyses. Implications of this comparison for the teaching of public speaking and persuasion are considered.

Language intensity plus: A methodological approach to validate emotions in conflicts

This study examines the use of intense language in retrospective accounts of conflict interactions to determine if the intensity of the reconstruction is linked to qualities frequently associated with conflict interactions: resolution status, strategy selection, topic, and the relational status of the other. Results indicate that language intensity coding is a viable methodology for investigating the relationship between conflict features and emotionality. Results also reveal that intensely remembered thoughts are more likely to occur if the conflict was not resolved.

Embedded gender expectations: A covariate analysis of conflict situations and issues

A recent meta‐analysis of gender differences in the selection of conflict management strategies revealed small effect sizes. To explore the possibility that the primary experiments used situations and instances containing embedded gender expectations, 49 participants completed a survey evaluating the actual scenarios used in the primary research. They rated conflict strategies far efficacy, consequences, and gender bias and evaluated the scenarios for the male/female sex role appropriateness of each situation reported in the primary studies. A covariate analysis provides evidence that gender‐based cognitions play a small, but meaningful role in assessments of conflict situations.

Valid and constructive thoughts: Continuing the dialog about the RCQ

This brief essay continues the ongoing controversy over the status of the Role Category Questionnaire as a measure of cognitive complexity. The central thesis advanced is that several theoretical and methodological issues regarding the RCQ are still unanswered and await empirical investigation. The dozens of studies typically cited bv proponents of the RCQ demonstrate predictive validity. However, substantial unresolved questions about the measures construct, concurrent, and face validity leave open the possibility that the RCQ score is an artifact.

Perspectives on Instructional Communication's Historical Path to the Future

The field of communication education celebrates the centennial year of the National Communication Association. Many conceptual and theoretical advances have been made during these years, and assessing the history of instructional communication provides a clearer appreciation of the fields trajectory. We trace how the boundaries of instructional communication expanded to include theories and perspectives originating in other subdisciplines of the national organization. We also point to secular trends that may complicate and disrupt the prospects of the next-generation scholars. These trends are assessed, and recommendations are proposed for instructional research and theory development in the digital age.