Research

Title:

Communicating Uncertainty: Mobile Telecommunication Health Risks

Expected Start Date:

January 2004

Expected Date of Completion:

December 2005

Cost:

£200,000

Principal Investigator:

Dr Julie Barnett

Contact Details:

Psychology Dept.
University of Surrey
Guildford
GU2 7XH

Project Team:

Professor Richard Shepherd
Dr Victoria Senior
Ms. Jane Vincent

Expertise:

The team members carrying out this project are all based at the University of Surrey. The Principal Investigator is Dr Julie Barnett. She is a social psychologist with particular expertise in relation to risk perception and risk communication. Professor Richard Shepherd is also a social psychologist and has extensive research experience in the risk communication field. He is interested in the role of trust in risk communication. Dr Vicky Senior has particular interest and experience in how the provision of risk information influences health beliefs and health related behaviour. The final team member is Jane Vincent, currently a Research Fellow in the Digital World Research Centre (DWRC) University of Surrey. DWRC has been undertaking research on the use of mobile phones since 1999 working with the four major UK operators.

Programme of work:

This research programme is designed to explore what people understand about the uncertain risks associated with mobile phone handsets and base stations. It will look at the effect of communicating uncertain risks on attitudes and behaviour as well evaluating the effectiveness of the Department of Health leaflets Mobile Phones and Health and Mobile Phone Base Stations. Several different methods will be used to address these questions. Early exploratory work will include the development of a self-report measure of phone use and a series of focus groups. These stages will inform a survey to be carried out with the Office of National Statistics and a series of experimental studies looking at the effects of different sorts of uncertainty on risk appreciation, how people intend to behave and how they do behave. The people participating in this research will mainly be members of the general public who use mobile phones or who live near base stations.

Difficulties:

There are several areas in which we might expect to encounter difficulties. Firstly, one of our aims is to seek to develop a good self-report measure of behaviour. This may be difficult because we know from research in other areas that behaviour that is frequent or habitual (as mobile use often is) is likely to be difficult to recall. Recruiting people to take part in the research, as with all such projects, may be problematic at times. Finally it is an important part of the programme that we explore both mobile phone handsets and base stations. Integrating the findings in the two areas will be a particular challenge.

Importance:

This work will result in a detailed understanding of how people respond to uncertain or conflicting information. This is vital in order to ensure that information is made available in a way that best helps people make informed decisions about risks. The research will help policy makers, scientists, industry and special interest groups in their communication of uncertain information. The survey work will help the Department of Health evaluate how effective previous communication in this area has been. The research will also inform debates and policy development around mobile telecommunications regulation.