Kathleen Sherman‐morri
Biographic Data
| ID | 4818192 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kathleen Sherman‐morri |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kathleen |
| FAMILY NAME | Sherman‐morri |
| SIGNATURE | MORRI K S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Mississippi State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7496-8394 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 8 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2005 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Motivations and Costs Associated with Intention to Take Protective Action across Five Weather Hazards
Protection motivation theory (PMT) has been used to explain the intention to take protective action in response to threats in a variety of fields, most extensively health behavior research. However, it has been used to a limited extent in the weather domain. The current study uses PMT as a framework to explain intention to respond protectively to five weather hazards. It also probes deeper into the perceived costs associated with a series of prot…
Tornado Sheltering: The Viewpoint among Broadcast Meteorologists
The risk of significant loss of life from tornadoes remains high despite improvements in the warning processes. That is particularly true with vulnerable communities, which have higher proportions of mobile homes. As a result, public tornado shelters have been built in some communities and have become available to the public. However, their presence is intermittent, and there are many tornado-prone areas that lack such shelters. A public survey i…
Geographic constraints on rapid comprehension of tornado warning information
Exploring Personalized Tornado Risk with a Sketch Map Activity
Our study sought to understand how individuals think about their home location and county, including their geospatial awareness, and how they conceive of risk from a tornado geospatially. We conducted interviews and a sketch mapping activity with sixty-five individuals from Mississippi and Alabama. Our results indicated that participants could name and correctly locate only a few neighboring counties and that there was a difference of 4.7 miles o…
An Exploratory Content Analysis of Two Local Television Stations’ Tornado Warning Broadcasts
In-depth analysis of the content of broadcast tornado warning coverage is limited. Such analysis is important due to local television’s role as a key source for tornado warning information. This study attempts to fill gaps in our knowledge regarding broadcast coverage of tornado warnings by demonstrating how local television news stations’ coverage of tornadic events can be systematically analyzed to better understand this element of warning comm…
Pandemic and health reporting: A content analysis of New York times coverage of Covid-19 from January 01, 2020, to August 31, 2022
The media coverage of an infectious disease outbreak can quickly become a complex issue as the sources of messages may get complicated by the nature of the outbreaks and sources of information. During past pandemics, media were criticized for the sensationalized coverage of H1N1 and politicized coverage of both Ebola and Zika virus. Recent studies related to the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that media coverage of the health crisis may have affecte…
The Influence of Demographic and Place Variables on Personalized Tornado Risk Area
Although there is clear evidence that proximity to a tornado or forecast tornado increases an individual’s risk perception, the specific relationships between risk personalization and spatial variables are unclear. It has also been established that one’s own evaluation of distance does not always match objective measurement. This study sought to explain the differences in the distance at which an individual would personalize the risk from a torna…
Learning from the Covid-19 Pandemic: When Public Health and Tornado Threats Converge
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges that dramatically affected the way of life in the United States and globally in 2020. The pandemic also made the process of protecting individuals from tornadoes more challenging, especially when their personal residence lacks suitable shelter, particularly for residents of mobile homes. The necessity of having to shelter with other families – either in a public…
Tornado warning awareness, information needs and the barriers to protective action of individuals who are blind
Perceptions about Social Science among NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologists
Severe Weather Watches and Risk Perception in a Hypothetical Decision Experiment
A great deal of research has been conducted regarding tornado warnings and protective actions taken, including some studies in which respondents were presented with hypothetical tornado warning scenarios. Much less research has been conducted in which respondents were presented with tornado watch scenarios, even though they cover a larger area and longer time period, thus potentially disrupting a far greater number of people. To address this lack…
Professional Development for Promoting 21st Century Skills and Common Core State Standards in Foreign Language and Social Studies Classrooms
Measuring the Effectiveness of the Graphical Communication of Hurricane Storm Surge Threat
Color is an important variable in the graphical communication of weather information. The effect of different colors on understanding and perception is not always considered prior to releasing an image to the public. This study tests the influence of color as well as legend values on the effectiveness of communicating storm surge potential. In this study, 40 individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment in which they responded to eight q…
The Public Response to Hazardous Weather Events: 25 Years of Research
Recent disasters with high numbers of fatalities such as Hurricane Katrina or the 2011 southeastern tornado outbreak demonstrate the need to understand the public's response in extreme weather events. Much of what we know about how an individual responds to a weather hazard comes from case study research on behaviors and perceptions following single events. Because many of the actions are context specific, it is important to periodically review t…
Tornadoes, television and trust—A closer look at the influence of the local weathercaster during severe weather
Previous research has acknowledged the importance of mass media in shaping risk perception and as the channel through which people get information during and after disasters. There is still much more to know about the role mass media (but especially the television medium) plays in people's precautionary hazard behaviors. Close to 400 people were surveyed in the Memphis, TN television market about their knowledge and perception of the severe weath…
Tornadoes, television and trust—A closer look at the influence of the local weathercaster during severe weather
Previous research has acknowledged the importance of mass media in shaping risk perception and as the channel through which people get information during and after disasters. There is still much more to know about the role mass media (but especially the television medium) plays in people's precautionary hazard behaviors. Close to 400 people were surveyed in the Memphis, TN television market about their knowledge and perception of the severe weath…
The Public Response to Hazardous Weather Events: 25 Years of Research
Recent disasters with high numbers of fatalities such as Hurricane Katrina or the 2011 southeastern tornado outbreak demonstrate the need to understand the public's response in extreme weather events. Much of what we know about how an individual responds to a weather hazard comes from case study research on behaviors and perceptions following single events. Because many of the actions are context specific, it is important to periodically review t…
Tornadoes, television and trust—A closer look at the influence of the local weathercaster during severe weather
Previous research has acknowledged the importance of mass media in shaping risk perception and as the channel through which people get information during and after disasters. There is still much more to know about the role mass media (but especially the television medium) plays in people's precautionary hazard behaviors. Close to 400 people were surveyed in the Memphis, TN television market about their knowledge and perception of the severe weath…
The Public Response to Hazardous Weather Events: 25 Years of Research
Recent disasters with high numbers of fatalities such as Hurricane Katrina or the 2011 southeastern tornado outbreak demonstrate the need to understand the public's response in extreme weather events. Much of what we know about how an individual responds to a weather hazard comes from case study research on behaviors and perceptions following single events. Because many of the actions are context specific, it is important to periodically review t…
Measuring the Effectiveness of the Graphical Communication of Hurricane Storm Surge Threat
Color is an important variable in the graphical communication of weather information. The effect of different colors on understanding and perception is not always considered prior to releasing an image to the public. This study tests the influence of color as well as legend values on the effectiveness of communicating storm surge potential. In this study, 40 individuals participated in an eye-tracking experiment in which they responded to eight q…
Professional Development for Promoting 21st Century Skills and Common Core State Standards in Foreign Language and Social Studies Classrooms
Perceptions about Social Science among NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologists
Severe Weather Watches and Risk Perception in a Hypothetical Decision Experiment
A great deal of research has been conducted regarding tornado warnings and protective actions taken, including some studies in which respondents were presented with hypothetical tornado warning scenarios. Much less research has been conducted in which respondents were presented with tornado watch scenarios, even though they cover a larger area and longer time period, thus potentially disrupting a far greater number of people. To address this lack…
Tornado warning awareness, information needs and the barriers to protective action of individuals who are blind
Learning from the Covid-19 Pandemic: When Public Health and Tornado Threats Converge
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in unprecedented challenges that dramatically affected the way of life in the United States and globally in 2020. The pandemic also made the process of protecting individuals from tornadoes more challenging, especially when their personal residence lacks suitable shelter, particularly for residents of mobile homes. The necessity of having to shelter with other families – either in a public…
The Influence of Demographic and Place Variables on Personalized Tornado Risk Area
Although there is clear evidence that proximity to a tornado or forecast tornado increases an individual’s risk perception, the specific relationships between risk personalization and spatial variables are unclear. It has also been established that one’s own evaluation of distance does not always match objective measurement. This study sought to explain the differences in the distance at which an individual would personalize the risk from a torna…
Pandemic and health reporting: A content analysis of New York times coverage of Covid-19 from January 01, 2020, to August 31, 2022
The media coverage of an infectious disease outbreak can quickly become a complex issue as the sources of messages may get complicated by the nature of the outbreaks and sources of information. During past pandemics, media were criticized for the sensationalized coverage of H1N1 and politicized coverage of both Ebola and Zika virus. Recent studies related to the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that media coverage of the health crisis may have affecte…
An Exploratory Content Analysis of Two Local Television Stations’ Tornado Warning Broadcasts
In-depth analysis of the content of broadcast tornado warning coverage is limited. Such analysis is important due to local television’s role as a key source for tornado warning information. This study attempts to fill gaps in our knowledge regarding broadcast coverage of tornado warnings by demonstrating how local television news stations’ coverage of tornadic events can be systematically analyzed to better understand this element of warning comm…
Tornado Sheltering: The Viewpoint among Broadcast Meteorologists
The risk of significant loss of life from tornadoes remains high despite improvements in the warning processes. That is particularly true with vulnerable communities, which have higher proportions of mobile homes. As a result, public tornado shelters have been built in some communities and have become available to the public. However, their presence is intermittent, and there are many tornado-prone areas that lack such shelters. A public survey i…
Geographic constraints on rapid comprehension of tornado warning information
Exploring Personalized Tornado Risk with a Sketch Map Activity
Our study sought to understand how individuals think about their home location and county, including their geospatial awareness, and how they conceive of risk from a tornado geospatially. We conducted interviews and a sketch mapping activity with sixty-five individuals from Mississippi and Alabama. Our results indicated that participants could name and correctly locate only a few neighboring counties and that there was a difference of 4.7 miles o…
Motivations and Costs Associated with Intention to Take Protective Action across Five Weather Hazards
Protection motivation theory (PMT) has been used to explain the intention to take protective action in response to threats in a variety of fields, most extensively health behavior research. However, it has been used to a limited extent in the weather domain. The current study uses PMT as a framework to explain intention to respond protectively to five weather hazards. It also probes deeper into the perceived costs associated with a series of prot…
Geography (10 works) · Tornado (10 works) · Meteorology (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (6 works) · Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations (6 works) · Perception (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Risk Perception and Management (5 works) · Sociology (5 works)