The Persuasive Effects of a Real and Complex Communication.

The article discusses the results of a secondary analysis of two surveys that were conducted to analyze issues concerning persuasive communication. The features of the survey on preferred options for local governments in the context of the discussion in the article are provided. The article further throws light of social characteristics of respondents who changed their preferences after briefing. The actual briefing procedure involved the face-to-face provision of information to each respondent by trained interviewers. The briefing had a standard format but contained specific details about each survey area and was intended to present impartially each of the reorganization options for that area. The briefing contained details about the proposed area and population, estimated start-up costs, and estimated longer term annual savings for each option, with the assumption that Service provision would remain at the existing level. In the present study the researchers used a secondary analysis of two large surveys that were conducted for the LGC, to determine the underlying factors that distinguished the changers (those who changed their views) from the nonchangers.