But these scales have yet to be used in a risk communication context. Demonstrating the usefulness of these pre-tested credibility scales could significantly advance efforts to understand and improve the process of risk communication. This is the goal of our presentation, which begins with a brief background on source credibility in communication research before demonstrating its applicability to current risk communication research. The credibility scale's usefulness is demonstrated using data gathered through surveys of three New York communities facing environmental controversies and receiving risk information from a variety of sources. Analysis confirms a high reliability for both the source credibility scale and the risk perception index, used as a dependent variable.
Results also show significant relationships between perceptions of risk and source credibility.
Overall, the analysis demonstrates the usefulness of this survey tool for work addressing credibility in risk communication.