Reconciling conflicting results derived from experimental and survey studies of attitude change.

TLDR

Attitude change research typically uses either controlled experiments or naturalistic surveys, with surveys capturing real‑world exposure and social discussion, and recent studies have focused on individual differences in susceptibility to persuasion. The authors contrast experimental designs, where participants receive controlled communication exposure, with survey designs that collect self‑reported exposure and attitudes via interviews or questionnaires. Correlational survey studies suggest that only a small proportion of people exhibit attitude change in response to communication.

Abstract

Two quite different types of research design are characteristically used to study the modification of attitudes through communication. In the first type, the experiment, individuals are given a controlled exposure to a communication and the effects evaluated in terms of the amount of change in attitude or opinion produced. In the alternative research design, the sample survey, information is secured through interviews or questionnaires both concerning the respondent's exposure to various communications and his attitudes and opinions on various issues. The picture of mass communication effects which emerges from correlational studies is one in which few individuals are seen as being affected by communications. Communications of the type studied by survey researchers usually involve reaching the individual in his natural habitat, with consequent supplementary effects produced by discussion with friends and family. The nature of individual differences in susceptibility to persuasion via communication has been the subject of a number of the recent studies.