Developing dissemination procedures for state educational accountability programs

Vol. 1. Reactions to state accountability programs -- v. 2. The relationship of contemporary communication theory to accountability dissemination procedures -- v. 3. Developing dissemination procedures for state educational accountability program

Persuasive Communication

This classic, cogent analysis of the major theories of persuasive communication includes many examples from advertising, the legal profession and social sciences research

The concept of logical ambiguity and judgments of syllogistic validity

All syllogistic forms are ambiguous: they have more than one possible meaning. The existence of multiple interpretations of messages cast into logical forms may be a factor related to the difficulty people have in judging their validity or invalidity. Data supporting such an hypothesis are presented and a general method for determining the ambiguity of a syllogism is described. It is argued that the ambiguity of a message form is a relevant variable in the explanation of human communication behavior. Implications of this ambiguity view of syllogistic reasoning errors for man as a rational being are discussed

Attributes of Interactive Online Health Information Systems

The development of online communication systems related to prevention, decision making, and coping with cancer has outpaced theoretical attention to the attributes that appeal to system users and that create effective interactions. This essay reviews a number of sociotechnical attributes related to online discussion systems and tutorials, including interactivity, presence, homophily, social distance, anonymity/privacy, and interaction management. These attributes are derived from different theoretical perspectives which have led to clinical trials and other empirical studies demonstrating effectiveness or attraction to end users. The effects of a subset of these attributes are connected to learning, social influence, and coping, as illustrated in evaluations of an interactive smoking prevention site and a cancer advice/support discussion system