A third area of new research we are undertaking concerns the role of trust in framing processes. The researchers working on this project are primarily those from Ohio State University. Several initiatives are included in this work.

Trust Protocol.  We will develop a protocol for understanding the role of trust in dispute framing. We do not believe that trust is a frame. Instead, we believe that trust is a relational process that moderates between two other frames - identity, which is a definition of who we are and how much we trust others, and characterization, which is a definition of who they are and how trustworthy they are.

We will work to create a series of perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral measures of trust. The theoretical base for this work will be derived from Professor Lewicki's earlier work on trust and distrust dynamics in organizations. We will also work from the cases developed by the consortium and funded by the first grant, to create a "code book" of key language and terminology that can be used to recognize and code for trust. Since we are not sure of the degree to which significant trust language will be found in these earlier cases, we may choose to conduct a series of interviews at a new Central Ohio environmental dispute site, in order to specifically generate extensive discussions of trust and to refine the scope and depth of the tools in the code book.

We intend to tie the contextual, text-based derivations of trust to other ways that trust is commonly measured, such as self-report, rating scales, behavior in specific contexts, etc. Finding multiple ways to measure trust will be an important component of our work. We will also work to link trust to other related personality elements, such as credibility and integrity that are specifically related to the nature of identity, characterization, and conflict management frames.

Scenario Development.  Our objective is to create an environmental scenario that can both measure and manipulate trust levels, so that the scenario can be used both for research and training purposes. We will experiment with the training scenario in order to test its effectiveness, as well as to collect research data about trust. Some of the questions to be explored are: