Viewer Miscomprehension Findings are Measurement Bound

Abstract

The Jacoby/Hoyer findings of a “norm” or “natural error rate” of miscomprehension when viewing televised communication appears to be an artifact arising from using a single recognition measurement technique. Results from a recent FTC copy test suggest that significantly different levels of miscomprehension would result if other measurements such as recall were also included. The difficulty of providing a valid measure of miscomprehension is also explored.