Developing User Personas to Aid in the Design of a User-Centered Natural Product-Drug Interaction Information Resource for Researchers

Pharmacokinetic interactions between natural products and conventional drugs can adversely impact patient outcomes. These complex interactions present unique challenges that require clear communication to researchers. We are creating a public information portal to facilitate researchers’ access to credible evidence about these interactions. As part of a user-centered design process, three types of intended researchers were surveyed: drug-drug interaction scientists, clinical pharmacists, and drug compendium editors. Of the 23 invited researchers, 17 completed the survey. The researchers suggested a number of specific requirements for a natural product-drug interaction information resource, including specific information about a given interaction, the potential to cause adverse effects, and the clinical importance. Results were used to develop user personas that provided the development team with a concise and memorable way to represent information needs of the three main researcher types and a common basis for communicating the design’s rationale

The role of cognitive schemata in determining candidate characteristic effects

Recent work in political communication has begun to focus on the cognitive processes by which political message effects are achieved (Garramone, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986; Garramone, Steele, Hogan, & Rifon, 1987; Graber, 1984; Kraus & PerIoff, 1985; Mcleod, Kosicki, Pan, & Allen, 1987; Steele, Garramone, & Hogan, 1988). By specifying the nature of these mediating processes, researchers hope to gain a greater understanding of the nature of political media effects (PerIoff & Kraus, 1985). One line of research in this area has investigated how both audience cognitive schemata and media message characteristics may affect the information processing and subsequent effects of political messages (Garramone, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986; Garramone et al., 1987; Steele et al., 1988). This chapter further elaborates these relationships by investigating the roles of cognitive schemata and candidate characteristics in determining political advertising effects

Benefits and costs of Channel One in a middle school setting and the role of media-literacy training

Channel One is a public-affairs program that includes 10 minutes of news and 2 minutes of paid product advertising or public service announcements. Advocates assert that it increases public-affairs knowledge, but critics charge that it garners a captive audience for teen-targeted advertising. This experiment analyzed the differential effects of Channel One depending on whether early-adolescent viewers received a media-literacy lesson in conjunction with viewing the program. Outcomes included perceptions of Channel One news programming, recall of program content and advertising, materialism, and political efficacy. Researchers used a posttest-only field experiment (N = 240) of seventh- and eighth-grade students using random assignment to conditions. Conditions included a control group, a group that received a fact-based lesson, and a group that received the same lesson content using a more emotive teaching style. It was expected that the emotion-added lesson condition would be more effective than the logic-only lesson condition because of its motivational component. On average, students remembered more ads from Channel One than news stories. Participants in the control group remembered fewer news stories than did the groups that received the lessons. Students reported having purchased during the preceding 3 months an average of 2.5 items advertised on the program. Both fact-based and affect-added training increased student skepticism toward advertisers. As expected, student liking of the program enhanced their learning from it and was associated with higher levels of political efficacy. Students held misconceptions about the role of their school in the production of Channel One. The use of Channel One by schools can have benefits, but these come with risk that some may consider unacceptable. On the positive side, student liking of the program was associated with their political efficacy. Although those who responded positively to program content and presentation style learned more from it, they also tended to want things that they saw in the advertisements. The data therefore show that the program can provide some benefits to young adolescents, but the results also provide justification for concerns about the commercialization of the classroom

Abstract

I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Stacey Hust, for the time and effort that she also put into this project. Without her guidance, this project would not have been possible. She has served not only as an adviser, but also a role model and friend, and I truly appreciate all she has done. Additionally, I would like to thank my committee members, Erica Austin and Bruce Pinkleton, for their guidance throughout the project and their encouragement. I would also like to acknowledge the support and help my fiancé Shawn Willoughby provided. Fortunately for me, Shawn is not only incredibly supportive but also talented, and he was able to serve as the graphic designer for the project. Shawn’s help with the alterations of the advertisements is more than appreciated, especially the help he provided voluntarily before the project had funding. Additionally, I would like to thank my parents and my brother for their support throughout the process. I appreciate the words of encouragement and the continued reminders to just “take it one item at a time ” when the to-do list got a little long. I would also like to thank my colleagues and good friends Cassie Norman and Hollie Smith for their continued support, encouragement and friendship. This investigation was supported in part by funds provided for medical an