By: Eli Lopez, Anthony Aguilar, Madison Arellanes, and Jackson Butler
Dr. Kelly D. Blake, ScD. Courtesy of the National Cancer Institute
Introduction
It was with great pleasure to conduct our scholar interview with Dr. Blake, a Health Scientist and Program Director in the National Cancer Institute’s Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch as well as Director of NCI’s Health Information National Trends Survey, focusing her research on public support for different tobacco use policies and allowing for us to get further insight into her research process.
Q1: Can you explain why you decided to research the advertisements of tobacco products and their effects on tobacco use?
Dr. Blake mentioned that when she was in her doctorate program, her doctoral dissertation work was in public support for different tobacco control policies. She spoke on how this study is a continuation of that interest. At the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Kelly Blake directs the health information national trends survey – HINTS. HINTS is a communication based survey. She feels as though the survey that she directs was a good place to begin looking at peoples opinions to reduce advertising and product placement at point-of-sale and on social media. A few years ago, the NCI had a monograph on tobacco and the media landscape. This was a synthesis of all the data that existed which shared the total weight of evidence of studies from the US and abroad. This demonstrated a causal relationship between tobacco advertising and promotion and increased tobacco use. She says that point of sale advertising is associated with impulse purchases of cigarettes which encourage smokers to purchase more cigarettes as it is a trigger. There is also a prevalence of tobacco use on social media, most platforms have restrictions on tobacco advertising but more can be done. She and her team were interested in documenting the public’s support for policy to limit this kind of advertising and placement. Dr.Blake said this is because oftentimes public policy can drive a policy maker’s decision on whether or not to take on a policy.
Q2: How did you decide which research method to use? Why did you choose the next birthday method?
Dr. Blake feels that the best way to assess public opinion is to ask people what they support or oppose. HINTS is an established health communication survey. They felt survey research was the best because they could do so in a naturally representative sample. They chose the next birthday method because it allowed them to select a person at random within a household. It allows an equal probability of selection if they were to be able to make inferences at the population level.
Q3: How did you determine how long you would collect the data?
Dr. Blake mentioned a piece of literature called “Total Design Survey Methods” by Don Dillman where there would first be a postcard invitation or a letter invitation. This is then followed by a packet that actually contains the survey which would be sent again a few weeks later and the process repeats. There was the initial contact followed by several follow ups which were all scattered over the course of 7 or 8 weeks. Dr. Blake said that they have modified that protocol a little bit. She said that they use an established method of going out to households to try and get them to complete the survey. They would then just wait until they saw responses start to trickle in.
Q4: How did you envision this research contributing to the understanding of product placement and advertisements in general? How do you expect it to contribute or affect the advertisements of tobacco?
Dr. Blake stated that in 2009 under the Obama Administration, the FDA implemented the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act which gives the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco advertising including at the retail level. It also preserved the rights of states and travel entities so they could have their own tobacco retail regulations. In terms of product placement, Dr. Blake said that public health experts at the National Cancer Institute prohibit point of sale advertisements such as at gas stations or places where people are near product displays. There have long been policy proposals to limit that paid advertising emplacement. Those policies have proven to be successful in other countries which puts these other countries far ahead of the United States.
Q5: When creating the survey questions, how did you conclude which questions you would ask?
Dr. Blake said that if you work in survey research, everyone has different measurement objectives on your team. HINTS makes sure that the questions are measuring the concepts to which they’re mapped. The first thing they did was think about what the gaps were, such as what they do not know about policy support in the United States for these communication related tobacco policies. The next thing they do is think about where they could be helpful when informing about policy and limitations. They also reach out to internal and external experts on the given topic. They serve as “champions” with this sort of content and they propose different survey questions. Next, they go through several months of testing where they take 15-20 people (not randomly, by opt in) and give them each $75-$100 to either come in person or do it online to go through the questions that have been proposed and ask them what they think they’re trying to ask in the question. They look at the results from that and then they do it again with another round of people.
Q6: We know that your research survey was conducted over the course of five months; how long did this research take to complete from start to finish?
Being a nationwide survey, compared to smaller studies, from start to finish Dr. Blake’s research time frame was an incredible 18 months.
From several development tests to choosing the sample addresses from the postal service to finally finalizing data packages in order to be ready for public release so the data can be used for under different releases.
Q7: What were some challenges you and your team faced while conducting your research and how did you navigate the issue(s)?
Conducting and executing research and surveys is no walk in the park. For Dr. Blake, when asking policy supporting questions, stated that a roadblock throughout her research was figuring out how to navigate the sample that had neutral responses that neither support or do, rather in the middle.
In their particular study, they locked neutral in with opposition, not because it necessarily falls within the opposing opinion but rather because this group can be considered people who can move their opinion. Leading for the researchers to move forward with the plan of how to move the opinions to those who are neutral v.s supporters, especially when looking at policy you want to move people in one direction.
Conclusion
Concluding the interview, Dr. Blake left our team with a fresh perspective on how to move forward when conducting research. We understand that research takes time, and that conducting research spans over months, depending on its scale. Ultimately we are left with an understanding that in order to have a truly random sample, you must allow for an equal probability of selection when surveying. Dr. Blake and her team’s research concluded that the majority of adults in the U.S. support prohibiting tobacco product placement on social media. Through their research, they were able to see how the support from U.S. adults varied by age, sex, education, rurality, and children in the household. Dr. Blake informed us how much work and thought goes into conducting research and holding surveys, which will allow us to have a greater vision into our own term project.
Zoom Interview
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YT LINK
Photos courtesy of Blake, et al., 2021, U.S. Public Opinion Toward Policy Restrictions to Limit Tobacco Product Placement and Advertising at Point-Of-Sale and on Social Media
The Society for Communications Research 