Discusses the importance of images in the publishing and presentation of scientific research. Explains the use of photographs as scientific data in research. Lists some reasons for the manipulation of images, and clarifies the acceptable and unacceptable limits of manipulation and image manipulation policy. (Author/YDS)

Seeks to assess people's perceptions of the credibility of various categories of Internet information. Finds that respondents considered Internet information to be as credible as that obtained from television, radio, and magazines, but not as credible as newspaper information. Explores the social relevance of the findings and discusses them in…

In this article, we report on our qualitative study involving eight individuals hired to transcribe research tapes in university contexts. We consider issues of data analysis and data trustworthiness and the implications for both when transcription is assigned to someone other than the researcher. We explore the challenges transcribers faced…

This paper examines the believability of strong warnings about the negative consequences of drug use among young adults in Australia who have never tried, currently use, or have tried and rejected cannabis. It finds that the strong warnings about cannabis are generally believed by never-triers. The same warnings are perceived by current users as…

A communication framework of persuasion and attitude change was utilized to analyze parent-adolescent communication about adolescent risk behavior. Three parent dimensions were deemed important: (a) perceived expertise, (b) perceived trustworthiness, and (c) perceived accessibility. Data were collected in surveys from 668 mother-adolescent dyads…

Plausibility has been implicated as playing a critical role in many cognitive phenomena from comprehension to problem solving. Yet, across cognitive science, plausibility is usually treated as an operationalized variable or metric rather than being explained or studied in itself. This article describes a new cognitive model of plausibility, the…

Metaphors are powerful in describing organizations (Morgan, 1986; 1998) and stories reveal the meaning of experiences (Kouzes & Posner, 1993). As an avid skier and school change leader, the author has drawn on her personal experiences and the literature to develop the idea of improving skiing as a metaphor for improving leadership, particularly…

This paper addresses the difficulty involved in creating easily understood information. The act of communicating is not complete until the message has been both received and understood by the audience. Messages must always be comprehensible, otherwise they will have no effect. The readability, legibility, and reading value of a graphic message is…

In college-level forensic competitions, the three major weekly magazines, "U.S. News and World Report,""Time," and "Newsweek," are taking a beating. Students are purposely looking for specialized sources; they firmly believe that judges look down on the use of these weekly publications. Indeed, judges do seem to be…

This paper examines the charges made in the highly publicized report, "How Schools Shortchange Girls," published by the American Association of University Women (1992). The paper shows how the findings in this report are based on a selective review of the research and how findings contrary to the report's message were suppressed. The paper reviews…

Motivational and cognitive aspects of children's reports of an event to which they were the only "witness" and the prime "suspect" were examined. Subjects were 67 children of 3 to 10 years of age. After a test and play session to assess the children's receptive vocabulary and their understanding of the term "believe,"…

The extent to which children evaluated non-television advertisements differentially on the basis of performers' gender, expertise, and attractiveness was assessed. Participating were 56 girls and 47 boys attending first-, third-, and fifth-grade classes in Galveston, Texas. A total of 24 pairs of specially prepared advertisements were used as…

This study reports on four possible feedback sequences to be used in groups. The acceptance and desirability of the feedback, as well as subjects' endorsement of group attractiveness, are compared for various feedback conditions. (Author)

Discusses the effects of deliberate vagueness on source credibility, agreement and perceived vagueness. See CS 703 560 for availability. (MH)

Finds that while strong verbs and reporting of "body language" make news stories exciting, they also make the stories less credible. (RB)