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A theoretical approach to structuring communication messages is outlined and an initial test of the approach is performed. The research question addressed is whether the job of decision makers can be made any easier by providing them with information organized to fit the decision-making strategy they intend to execute. An experiment employing a three-factor randomized design was executed (N = 211). The three independent variables were decision-making strategy employed (disjunctive vs. maximax). information format (alternative-by-alternative vs. attribute-by-attribute), and complexity of decision made (high vs. low). The dependent variables were several dimensions of decision-making facilitation (information recall, satisfaction, time and cognitive strain). Planned comparisons were used to directly test four hypotheses derived from the research question. The results provided some limited support for the hypothesized importance of matching information presentation formats to decision-making strategies to facilitate decision-making. However, the most effective pattern of matching turned out to be in the opposite direction of prediction. Several methodological and conceptual explanations for the results are discussed.

A process model of involvement based on expectancy-value research is proposed. Two key elements are included. The first is the person's expectation that a given event will be important. The second is the person's discrimination of whether his or her initial expectation was confirmed or disconfirmed. Both expectations and discrimination were manipulated for all subjects. The key dependent variable was each individual's subsequent expectation of the importance of similar events in the future. The implications of expectation of information-seeking intensity are also considered. Students enrolled in a University of Wisconsin advertising class served as subjects (N = 92) for the study. Data were collected at two points in time using booklets containing the experimental manipulations. Multiple regression analysis indicated that for students whose initial expectation of importance was high the experience of having that expectation confirmed or disconfirmed substantially influenced subjects' subsequent importance expectation. Subjects who had their high expectation confirmed exhibited higher subsequent expectations of importance than subjects who had their high initial expectation disconfirmed The effect, however, was limited to subjects who had previously felt such events were relatively unimportant. The results were discussed in terms of their implications for the enhancement of involvement.

The 1976 presidential debates were evaluated as an innovation in political communication formats that might overcome existing gaps in electoral participation between the more and less active sectors of society. The equivalence of effects of debate-watching and related behaviors was examined for different levels of age, education, and political interest. The debates were also compared to standard sources of political information. The debates and the processes they stimulated tended to be nonequivalent in exposure, but equivalent in predictive strength. That is, those initially most interested in politics spent more time watching the debates, but did not show greater gains in informed participation per amount of exposure than did other respondents. Comparisons are made with these forms of equivalence for standard media sources. Several explanations for these results are considered and the findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for the "knowledge gap" literature.

This study attempted to determine empirically the gratifications sought from communication channels and to test the assumption that individuals differentiate channels based on gratifications. Age-related changes in the dimensions adolescents use to differentiate channels were also investigated Results indicated that three dimensions were operative across three age levels, although the importance of the dimensions varied with age. The three dimensions were surveillance/entertainment, affective guidance, and behavioral guidance.

Voter volatility is defined empirically as the level of unpredictability of election outcomes from traditional demographic & political party variables. The effects of TV & newspaper exposure on each of 7 volatility dimensions are examined on the basis of interview data from 353 eligible voters in Madison, Wisc, collected before & after the 1976 election. Neither media exposure measures nor two control variables, education & political interest, had uniform predictive effects for all volatility dimensions. The dominant direction of effects from TV exposure was toward lower volatility. While newspaper use effects were largely toward lower volatility, some effects toward higher volatility were found. Education & political interest revealed both positive & negative effects on volatility. All variables considered thus had some effects in the opposite direction from that expected. 6 Tables. Modified HA.