4.1.3. Materials
Government Trust Scale . This research refers to the measurement
method of Ter Huurne and Gutteling (2009) on company trust, which was
revised to “government trust” for this study. The questionnaire
contains five statements, such as, “I believe the government will take
measures as much as possible to minimize the flood threat faced by the
people” (1 = completely unbelieve, 5 = completely believe). In this
study, Cronbach’s α was 0.87.
Information Processing Method Questionnaire. The questionnaire
used by Trumbo and McComas (2003, 2008) was used. Systematic processing
comprised four items; a sample item is “When I see information related
to flood threats, such as weather and river water levels, I need to
think carefully about its reliability and authenticity.” Ratings were
provided on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely),
with higher scores indicating more systematic processing. Cronbach’s
alpha was 0.65 in this study. Heuristic processing comprised four items;
a sample item is “Past experience makes it easy for me to judge the
severity of the flood threat we face.” Ratings were provided on a
7-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely), with higher
scores indicating more heuristic processing Cronbach’s alpha was 0.55 in
this study. Concerning these low internal consistency values, scholars
have suggested that measuring heuristic processing is relatively
difficult because people are reluctant to admit that they quickly form
judgments with insufficient information (Trumbo & McComas, 2008). In
general, although this measurement tool is not ideal, previous studies
showed that it can predict risk perception well (Trumbo & McComas,
2008).
Risk Perception Questionnaire. We used five questions to
measure risk perception. Sample items are “During the rainy season in
the next five years, if Wuhan is faced with the same rainfall as the
summer of 2016, then what do you think is the possibility that Wuhan
will encounter urban waterlogging again?” and “During the rainy season
of the next five years, if Wuhan again faces the same rainfall as the
summer of 2016, how serious do you think the impact of the flood problem
will be on Wuhan?” Participants responded to each item on a scale
ranging from 1 = “not at all” to 7 = “extremely” (α = 0.72).