Summary: The ways that risk perception is operationalized in the literature vary widely, despite some agreement as to the primary dimensions of such a measure. We undertook a series of studies to identify how best to measure risk perception building on the existing measures, but using best practice in scale development to identify the most reliable and valid measure. The full list of measures we reviewed from the literature can be found here here. The recommended set of items with their response categories from our empirical studies can be found here, and a PDF summarizing the takeaways across the series of studies can be found here.
Publications
Walpole, H., and R.S. Wilson. 2021. “Both Analysis and Feelings? The influence of risk beliefs on holistic risk judgments through dual systems using the SEAS model”. Journal of Risk Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2021.1907610
Walpole, H. and R.S. Wilson. 2021. “A Yardstick for Danger: Developing a Flexible and Sensitive Measure of Risk Perception”. Risk Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13704
Walpole, H. D., & Wilson, R. S. 2020. “Extending a broadly applicable measure of risk perception: the case for susceptibility”. Journal of Risk Research, 1-13. doi: 10.1080/13669877.2020.1749874
R.S. Wilson, A. Zwickle and H. Walpole*. 2019. “Developing a broadly applicable measure of risk perception”. Risk Analysis, 39(4): 777-791.