Message framing effects on breastfeeding attitude: a functional measurement experiment

Breastfeeding is generally accepted as the optimal method of infant feeding. However, many infants in the Netherlands are breastfed only for a short period. The present study aims to investigate the effect of framing breastfeeding-promoting messages in terms of the gains (advantages) associated with breastfeeding, compared with framing in terms of the losses (disadvantages) associated with the alternative behaviour, formula-feeding. The respondents, 96 women, took part in a web-based experiment, with statements of advantages of breastfeeding as well as disadvantages of formula-feeding as experimental stimuli. Stimuli were combined using a 4 (advantages)×3 (disadvantages) full factorial within subjects design, with advantages presented as either ‘benefits of breastfeeding’ or ‘disadvantages of formula-feeding’ (between subjects). Women reported their attitude towards breastfeeding on a graphical rating scale after each presentation of a combination of arguments. Three clusters of response patterns could be distinguished. There was no overall effect of message framing on breastfeeding attitude. However, there was a significant interaction between framing and the presented advantages. Gain framed messages seem to yield a more positive attitude when low impact advantages are presented, whereas loss-framed messages were more effective in high impact health advantages. This effect was only present in the cluster of women who seem to take into account both information about advantages and disadvantages in a similar way. It can be concluded th at the impact of message framing on the development of an attitude towards breastfeeding is limited and depends on the type of message presented and the information integration pattern followed by the respondent. Future brea stfeeding promotion activities a rerecommended to be tailored based on specific characteristics of the target population, to optimally enhance breastfeeding attitude in each woman (AU)

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A comparison of Web-based and face-to-face functional measurement experiments

Information Integration Theory (IIT) is concerned with how people combine information into an overall judgment. A method is hereby presented to perform Functional Measurement (FM) experiments, the methodological counterpart of IIT, on the Web. In a comparison of Web-based FM experiments, face-to-face experiments, and computer-based experiments in the lab it is found that the computer-based method is less sensitive to experimental manipulations. However, different integration rules can be distinguished. The inability to monitor motivation in the unproctored setting can partly explain this effect. Consequently it is argued that Web-based experiments enable the researcher to test larger groups which enable more in-depth analysis of individual differences using single subjects analyses and clustering methods(AU)