Eigen mening eerst: Over het blijvende belang van argumentatieonderzoek

Technologie maakt het mensen lastiger om in aanraking te komen met afwijkende meningen. De angst is dat mensen polariseren en niet openstaan voor andere, soms betere keuzes. Onderzoek naar argumenteren en redeneren is daarom essentieel om te begrijpen hoe mensen afwegingen maken.

  • Hornikx, J. (2018). Eigen mening eerst: Over het blijvende belang van argumentatieonderzoek. Tekstblad, 24 (5/6), 16-19. [link].

Het belang van taalbeheersing in onderzoek naar digitale communicatie

TvT coverWith the emergence of the internet and especially since the development of web 2.0, people increasingly communicate in an online environment. Be that as it may, this research domain has remained underexposed in Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing. The current special issue therefore addresses the importance of linguistic- and discourse-oriented research to explore the role of language in digital communication. On the one hand, the research papers in this issue investigate the influence of digital communication on communication styles. On the other hand, online genres are studied with large-scale corpora and (automatic) methods of analysis. We also highlight other research opportunities, such as whether digital communication changes the language use and proficiency of, for example, children and young people.

  • Hornikx, J., & Liebrecht, C. (2018). Het belang van taalbeheersing in onderzoek naar digitale communicatie. Tijdschrift voor Taalbeheersing, 40 (1), 1-12 [link].

Combining anecdotal and statistical evidence in real-life discourse

The persuasiveness of anecdotal evidence and statistical evidence has been investigated in a large number of studies, but the combination of anecdotal and statistical evidence has hardly received research attention. The present experimental study therefore investigated the persuasiveness of this combination. It also examined whether the quality of anecdotal evidence affects persuasiveness, and to what extent people comprehend the combination of anecdotal and statistical evidence. In an experiment, people read a realistic persuasive message that was relevant to them. Results showed that anecdotal evidence does not benefit from the inclusion of statistical evidence, nor from its intrinsic quality. The analysis of readers’ cognitive thoughts showed that only a minority of participants comprehended the relationship between anecdotal and statistical evidence.

  • Hornikx, J. (2018). Combining anecdotal and statistical evidence in real-life discourse: Comprehension and persuasion. Discourse Processes, 55 (3), 324-336.

How many laypeople holding a popular opinion are needed to counter an expert opinion?

In everyday situations, people regularly receive information from large groups of (lay) people and from single experts. Although lay opinions and expert opinions have been studied extensively in isolation, the present study examined the relationship between the two by asking how many lay people are needed to counter an expert opinion. A Bayesian formalisation allowed the prescription of this quantity. Participants were subsequently asked to assess how many lay people are needed in different situations. The results demonstrate that people are sensitive to the relevant factors identified for determining how many lay opinions are required to counteract a single expert opinion. People’s assessments were fairly good in line with Bayesian predictions.

  • Hornikx, J., Harris, A., & Boekema, J. (2018). How many laypeople holding a popular opinion are needed to counter an expert opinion? Thinking and Reasoning, 24 (1), 117-128.