Relationship between Involvement in an Issue and Number of Arguments
Previous research has indicated that level of involvement interacts with number of arguments and quality of arguments. Larger number of arguments seems to be more effective under low involvement, but under high involvement the effect depends on the quality of the arguments. There has been some question in previous research whether the subjects were highly involved. The present study manipulated number of arguments (9 vs 3) and level of involvement (high vs low) in a 2 × 2 experimental design. High involvement was produced by allowing subjects to vote on their final examination questions. The arguments proved to be of moderate quality. There was no significant main effect on any dependent variable nor was there any significant interaction. The only significant result was the manipulation check for involvement. Introduction of a final examination question may have heightened diligence under all conditions and so led to no differential responding to number of arguments.