Written Stimulus Evaluation

What it measures

Seven semantic differential items evaluate a written stimulus—such as an article, pamphlet, or health message—on dimensions including informativeness, credibility, interest, usefulness, excitement, fear, and writing quality.

Response format

7-point semantic differential (1=not at all, 7=very)

Scale items

• Not informative / very informative
• Not credible / very credible
• Not interesting / very interesting
• Not useful to me / very useful to me
• Boring / exciting
• Not scary / very scary
• Not well-written / very well-written

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Appears original to Menon, Block, and Ramanathan (2002); alpha .84. Adaptable to other written stimuli including web pages and health communication materials.

Citation

Menon, G., Block, L. G., & Ramanathan, S. (2002). We're at as much risk as we are led to believe: Effects of message cues on judgments of health risk. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(4), 533–549.

Keywords