Relative risk perception question structure and mechanics
| Number of measures | Sample measure | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Question stem | Response options | ||
| Question risk operationalisation | |||
| Overall harm | 41 | Please rate your level of agreement with the following statement: using e-cigarettes is less harmful to the health of the user than smoking cigarettes. | 5-point Likert scale: strongly agree to strongly disagree |
| Perceived severity | 4 | Compare the health risks for a group of daily smokers with a group of daily users of snus. The smokers and snus users belong to the same age group, and have used tobacco for the same length of time. The risk for (cancer of the oral cavity/lung cancer/stomach cancer/cardiovascular disease) is … | … far higher for snus users, somewhat higher for snus users, more or less equal for snus users and smokers, somewhat higher for smokers, or far higher for smokers |
| Perceived susceptibility | 15 | If a smoker switched from cigarettes to chewing tobacco/snuff, how much would they reduce their health risks associated with using tobacco products? | 5-point Likert scale: no reduction in risk to they would no longer be at risk |
| Perceived likelihood | 1 | Are nicotine patches … to cause someone to have a heart attack as cigarettes? | … more likely, about as likely, or less likely … |
| Question presentation | |||
| Presentation via survey's mode of administration | 46 | – | – |
| Inclusion of awareness prompt | 9 | Are you aware of any smokeless tobacco products, such as snuff or chewing tobacco, which are not burned or smoked but instead are usually put in the mouth? | No/Yes |
| Use of visual aid | 2 | Image of a pouch of snus | – |
| Question mechanics | |||
| Direct | 50 | Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement: e-cigarettes are safer to use than tobacco cigarettes. | 5-point scale: strongly disagree to strongly agree |
| Indirect | 7 | a) In your opinion, how harmful are new smokeless tobacco products, such as snus, to general health? b) In your opinion, how harmful is smoking cigarettes for health? | 7-point scale: not at all harmful (1) to extremely harmful (7) Differences between means for a) and b) were examined using t-tests |
| Question stem (among direct measures, n=50) | |||
| Open | 36 | Do you think e-cigarettes are … than regular cigarettes to health? | … more harmful, equally harmful, or less harmful … |
| Closed | 14 | Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statement: smokeless tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes. | 5-point Likert scale: strongly agree to strongly disagree |
| Response options (among direct measures, n=50) | |||
| Continuous | 36 | Do you think e-cigarettes are harmful? | 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree |
| Categorical | 9 | Do you think e-cigarettes are harmful? | No/Yes |
| Mixed | 5 | Do you think e-cigarettes are harmful? | Yes, they are more harmful than tobacco cigarettes / Yes, they are as harmful as tobacco cigarettes / Yes, but they are less harmful than tobacco cigarettes ; No, they are absolutely not harmful |
| Response option tasks (among direct continuous measures, n=36) | |||
| Rating task | 35 | Compared to cigarettes, do you think that SLT is … to a person's health? | … a lot less harmful, a little less harmful, about the same, a little more harmful, or a lot more harmful … |
| Ranking task | 1 | Please rank the following items in terms of health risks (use 1, 2, 3, and 4). Use ‘1’ for the item that is the most harmful and use ‘4’ for the item that is least harmful: chewing tobacco or dip; cigarettes; cigars; hookah. | Use 1, 2, 3 and 4 |