In a democracy, public acceptance of proposed policies is an important determinant of a successful government. Communication plays an important role in ascertaining public acceptance. The government has to convince the public that the proposed policy in the interest of the individual citizen or of society as a whole. To attain this goal, the government is expected to use proper arguments instead of taking its refuge to manipulation. Therefore, the quality of the arguments used is important. Argument quality is determined by two aspects: (1) argument strength, i.e., the belief in the probability that a consequence will arise, and (2) argument valence, i.e., the perceived desirability of the consequence. In order to convince the public of a policy’s desirability, the government has to convince the public that the policy will probably have desirable effects. This paper presents empirical research on how to attain this goal.
2018. Combining Anecdotal and Statistical Evidence in Real-Life Discourse: Comprehension and Persuasiveness. Discourse Processes 55:3 ► pp. 324 ff.
Rendon, Hector, Alyson Wilson & Jared Stegall
2018. Is it ‘Fake News’? Intelligence Community expertise and news dissemination as measurements for media reliability. Intelligence and National Security 33:7 ► pp. 1040 ff.
2014. On the Interpretation of Digital Trace Data in Communication and Social Computing Research. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 58:1 ► pp. 59 ff.
Hoeken, Hans & Lettica Hustinx
2009. When is Statistical Evidence Superior to Anecdotal Evidence in Supporting Probability Claims? The Role of Argument Type. Human Communication Research 35:4 ► pp. 491 ff.
Van Enschot-Van Dijk, Renske, Lettica Hustinx & Hans Hoeken
2003. The Concept of Argument Quality in the Elaboration Likelihood Model. In Anyone Who Has a View [Argumentation Library, 8], ► pp. 319 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.