A Robot, Meteorologist, and Amateur Forecaster Walk into A Bar: Examining Qualitative Responses to A Weather Forecast Delivered via Social Robot

• Published in: Communication studies Vol. 72; no. 6; pp. 1129 - 1145
• Main Authors: Rainear, Adam M., Jin, Xianlin, Edwards, Autumn, Edwards, Chad, Spence, Patric R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West Lafayette Routledge 02.11.2021; Central States Speech Association
• Subjects: Attitudes; broadcasting; human-robot interaction; meteorology; Pragmatics; Qualitative research; Robots; Social robotics; Vocalization; Weather; Weather forecasting
• ISSN: 1051-0974; 1745-1035
• DOI: 10.1080/10510974.2021.2011361

The current study examines qualitative responses from participants about their opinions on a weather forecast delivered by a professional meteorologist, an amateur meteorologist, and a social robot standing in for a meteorologist. Through thematic analyses, this study identified that people evaluated each weather forecast agent's performance based on two major criteria: message factors and messenger factors. Two themes emerged from the category of message factors: an enjoyable/entertaining experience and commentary on the forecast content and information. Five themes were identified under the category of messenger factors: an expectancy violation or uncertainty which made participants uncomfortable, a distraction to the point it impeded focus on the forecast, vocalization concerns, unprofessional delivery, and commentary on the stimuli being "cute"/perceiving it as a joke. Findings further illustrate the expectancy violation people experienced while encountering a robot and/or amateur forecaster. Such knowledge will contribute to human-machine communication literature and offer pragmatic implications for technology development.