Effects of communicating uncertainty descriptions in hazard identification, risk characterization, and risk protection.

ABSTRACT: Uncertainty is a crucial issue for any risk assessment. Consequently, it also poses crucial challenges for risk communications. Many guidebooks advise reporting uncertainties in risk assessments, expecting that the audience will appreciate this disclosure. However, the empirical evidence about the effects of uncertainty reporting is sparse and inconclusive. Therefore, based on examples of potential health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMF), three experiments were conducted analysing the effects of communicating uncertainties separately for hazard identification, risk characterisation and risk protection. The setups aimed to explore how reporting and how explaining of uncertainty affects dependent variables such as risk perception, perceived competence of the risk assessors, and trust in

SUBMITTER: Wiedemann P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8277037 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature