JODIE SINGER, ALEX STEGALL, KELSEY LEMIEUR, LEXI CONLEY, BRETT PIPER & TAYLOR BRIDGERS THE EFFECTS OF TEXTING WHILE DRIVING

FLIGHT PLAN Background Information Purpose of the study Research Methodology Examples of Public Service Announcements Research Question Hypotheses Results Limitations PR Recommendations

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Recently, there has been an increased concern about road safety in Chapel Hill March 2012: Chapel Hill Town Council bans hands- free mobile phone use $25 fine for drivers pulled over for a violation of law

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The experiment was conducted to analyze the effects of shock PSAs on UNC students' attitudes toward texting while driving We asked UNC students questions after they viewed different types of PSAs We hoped to find a significant difference between the attitudes of students who saw more shocking PSAs We hoped our experiment would help increase the effectiveness of future PSAs aimed at the college student demographic

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Population: UNC-Chapel Hill students Used Qualtrics to send out questionnaires Goal: three groups total Control group Two experimental groups Each group with people 131 responses total Control group had 53 responses The two experimental groups had 29 responses and 22 responses, respectively.

RESEARCH METHODOLGY Sent out surveys during a five-week period (Sunday March 18- Friday March 23) All groups were asked demographic questions first Compared responses of control group to various texting while driving PSA’s Likert & Semantic Differential Scales on the survey Questions for control & experimental groups were the same (the only difference was the video)

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY We conducted our experiment by asking UNC students to answer a series of questions after viewing different types of PSA’s. The three different types of PSAs were a violent/shock PSA, a humorous PSA and a Smokey the Bear PSA that was used for the control group.

VIOLENT/SHOCK PSA

HUMOROUS PSA

SMOKEY THE BEAR/CONTROL PSA

RESEARCH QUESTIONS RQ1: How does the viewing of a shock PSA or fear appeal advertisement about texting while driving affect the desire of college students at UNC to text while driving? RQ2: What constitutes texting while driving? How do varying definitions alter your perceptions of the danger associated with texting while driving?

HYPOTHESES H0: The type of Public Service Announcement will have no effect on the viewer’s feelings toward texting while driving. H1: The more shocking the Public Service Announcement is, the harsher the viewer’s feelings toward texting while driving will be.

RESULTS Cronbach’s Alpha:.770 Our experiment questions were reliable. Still, we found no statistically significant results, thus we were unable to reject our null hypothesis.

RESULTS Participants were asked to rate the likelihood that they would text while driving a vehicle in motion on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being extremely unlikely and 7 being extremely likely. Control Group: 3.04 Treatment Group One: 3.17 Treatment Group Two: 3.23

RESULTS Likelihood that respondents would text while behind the wheel of a vehicle not in motion: 5.51 Likelihood that respondents would text while driving a vehicle in town: 3.16 Likelihood that respondents would text while driving vehicle on an interstate or highway: 2.81

RESULTS Likelihood of texting while vehicle is stoppedLikelihood of texting while driving in town Likelihood of texting while driving on the highway

LIMITATIONS Time and Resources -Convenience sample and gender ratio 79:21 vs. 65:35 Limited recognition of divergence between the two -No time for pretesting Pretest-posttest format is preferable

LIMITATIONS Testing bias -Participants watched videos which strongly opposed texting and driving and immediately answered related questions -Possibility of participants adjusting their responses

RECOMMENDATIONS Three things for Public Relations practitioners to consider in future experiments: 1. To better understand the attitudes and behaviors behind college age students, researchers should separate the PSA from the survey.

RECOMMENDATIONS 2. PR practitioners should focus their attention concerning awareness about texting in a vehicle in general, not just while driving. 3. A larger study of people over a period of time would be more effective.