Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance: taking measurement seriously.
Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance: taking measurement seriously.
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DOI：
10.1017/s0033291720005164
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发表时间：
2022-10
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Johns R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Garry J;Ford R;Johns R
Freeman等人（《心理医学》，21，1-13）认为，冠状病毒阴谋论在英格兰得到了广泛的支持。我们假设他们对患病率的估计是由于有缺陷的研究设计而被夸大的。当要求受访者同意或不同意支持阴谋论的陈述时，他们使用了一组有偏见的回答选项：四个同意选项，只有一个不同意选项（没有“不知道”选项）。我们还假设，由于这些有缺陷的措施，弗里曼等人的方法低估了阴谋信念和顺从之间的相关性。最后，我们假设，由于依赖双变量相关性，弗里曼等人高估了阴谋信念和服从之间的因果关系。在一项预先注册的研究中，我们对英格兰2057名成年人的代表性样本进行了一项调查（实地调查：2020年7月16日至19日）。使用我们倡导的“最佳实践”方法（平衡的响应选项，以及不知道选项）进行测量，对冠状病毒阴谋的支持率仅为Freeman等人方法的八分之五（62.3%）。我们报告的相关性和因果关系的假设混合的结果。为了避免高估冠状病毒阴谋论的支持率，我们主张使用一套平衡而不是不平衡的应对选项，并包括一个不知道的选项。
Freeman et al. (, Psychological Medicine, 21, 1–13) argue that there is widespread support for coronavirus conspiracy theories in England. We hypothesise that their estimates of prevalence are inflated due to a flawed research design. When asking respondents to their survey to agree or disagree with pro-conspiracy statements, they used a biased set of response options: four agree options and only one disagree option (and no ‘don't know’ option). We also hypothesise that due to these flawed measures, the Freeman et al. approach under-estimates the strength of the correlation between conspiracy beliefs and compliance. Finally, we hypothesise that, due to reliance on bivariate correlations, Freeman et al. over-estimate the causal connection between conspiracy beliefs and compliance. In a pre-registered study, we conduct an experiment embedded in a survey of a representative sample of 2057 adults in England (fieldwork: 16−19 July 2020). Measured using our advocated ‘best practice’ approach (balanced response options, with a don't know option), prevalence of support for coronavirus conspiracies is only around five-eighths (62.3%) of that indicated by the Freeman et al. approach. We report mixed results on our correlation and causation hypotheses. To avoid over-estimating prevalence of support for coronavirus conspiracies, we advocate using a balanced rather than imbalanced set of response options, and including a don't know option.