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).