Interactive Data Graphics and Information Processing

Abstract

Among the chief promises of interactivity in news content online are that it leads to improved engagement with and attitudes toward content, yet scholarship is mixed on how such effects should occur, and under what conditions they do so. This study sought to examine the processes and conditions for effects of interactivity on processing online health news containing graphically displayed data. An experiment (N = 86) was conducted using online health news to examine these effects and test two previously proposed mechanisms – namely, those of increased involvement and perceived interactivity. Interactivity of information graphics accompanying an online health article was manipulated across three ordinal levels, and effects on postexposure attitudes and memory measures obtained. Preexisting level of involvement with the content domain and numerical aptitude were measured and tested as potential moderators of effects. The results showed that involvement with the content domain moderated the role of interactivity, such that increased interactivity led to more favorable attitudes toward the article for users low in involvement, while no effect was found for highly involved users. The effects of interactivity on attitudes were also found to be mediated by perceived interactivity. The results suggest that involvement with content domain is a key determinant of the effects of interactivity, and should be included as a key element in the development of theories of the impact of technology on communication.