| Sumario: | Rapid changes in technology make it increasingly important to understand the impact of modes of presentation and the use of computers to obtain data. In order to begin to explore the effects of new technologies in the domain of anti-drug public service announcements (PSAs), 154 adolescents from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Philadelphia were randomly assigned to one of three series of six anti-drug PSAs or a series of six political PSAs (control). Half the subjects viewed and evaluated the PSAs on a laptop computer, while the other half viewed the PSAs on a TV monitor and evaluated them using a paper and pencil self-completion questionnaire. As expected, sets of anti-drug PSAs were judged to be more effective in helping people avoid drugs than the set of political PSAs. There were, however, important differences in effectiveness as a function of gender and ethnicity. In addition, in contrast to previous research, there were only minimal differences between the use of computer methodology and the more traditional TV and paper and pencil methodology.
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