The Relationship of Communication and Hazard Experience to Risk Judgments

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9316615 Griffin Most risk communication research focuses on what experts want to convey to the public and how to do so efficiently. Very little is known, however, about how people use the risk information available to them to make sense of risky situations. This project is to investigate how residents of Milwaukee rely on their personal experience, and on the various mass and interpersonal communications channels to develop their knowledge and level of worry about tap-water borne parasitic disease (cryptosporidiosis) in the wake of a recent widespread outbreak in their city. A random sample survey will be conducted by telephone of 500 adults who live in the affected part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Since it is essential to gather the data while personal memories of the experience with cryptosporidiosis are fresh, while the outbreak is still highlighted in the mass media, and while uncertainty still remains about possible recurrences, this proposal is funded by the Small Grants for Exploratory Research. This effort is conducted to prepare a more extensive research proposal that will examine how people select and process information to cope with risks in the world around them using an audience-based rather than a sender-based approach to investigate risk communication. ***