Strength of knowledge (SoK) judgments are a key component in characterising risks from an uncertainty-based risk perspective. A commonly applied assessment scheme for this purpose involves evaluating the SoK based on several criteria: the reasonableness of assumptions, the availability and reliability of data, the degree to which phenomena are understood, the level of expert agreement, and the extent to which the knowledge has been scrutinised. The applicability of this scheme has been widely discussed and debated in the risk research literature. However, less attention has been given to its actual use and to risk practitioners' evaluations. In Norway, many practitioners regularly apply the SoK scheme to address real-world risk problems, as various public and private sectors have incorporated it into their risk assessment standards and guidance documents. In this paper, we examine how 22 risk practitioners use the SoK scheme and assess its utility. The study aims to provide insights into the challenges and benefits of applying the SoK scheme in practical contexts, thereby enhancing its applicability for practitioners and informing its ongoing development within the research community. Key findings relate to the scheme’s practical value in structuring uncertainty assessments and informing risk management, alongside identified needs for improved guidance to support consistent judgment and effective communication.
In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to better incorporate knowledge aspects into risk assessment. A variety of methods have been proposed, drawing on diverse attributes and both qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods. A central concept in this development is the “strength of knowledge” (SoK), which evaluates the strength of the knowledge base underpinning probability and risk judgments. This paper critically examines the SoK concept and argues for methodological advancement by expanding the focus beyond the mere strength of the supporting knowledge to also encompass the quality of the transformation process from that knowledge into the final probability and risk judgments. To address this, a new concept – “strength of justification” (SoJ) – is introduced. SoJ integrates both the quality of the knowledge itself and the rigor of the transformation steps leading to the probability and risk judgments. By adopting the SoJ framework, the paper derives enhanced methods for characterizing individual uncertainty judgments, as well as overall risk descriptions, offering a more comprehensive approach to assessing and communicating risk.
Tourists increasingly express interest in choosing experiences that minimise environmental harm, yet it remains unclear if they actively choose eco-certified tours or how their environmental interest and/or knowledge shape their evaluations. This study investigates how tourists' knowledge and interest in whale watching, whale protection and environmentally responsible practices influence their recognition of and satisfaction with an eco-certified whale watching tour. Using 499 survey responses collected in British Columbia in 2024 and analysed with a logit model, the findings show that only half of tourists knew their tour was eco-certified, and that knowledge and interest function as distinct constructs. Interest strongly influences tourists' evaluation of environmentally responsible experiences, whereas knowledge, not interest, significantly predicts recognition of eco-certification. Satisfaction is driven primarily by the core wildlife outcome of seeing whales rather than tourists' prior knowledge, interest or experience with these practices. Although limited to one destination, these results suggest that eco-certification is a weak cognitive signal and that operators and destination marketers should prioritise strategies that foster tourist interest and engagement rather than relying solely on factual sustainability information.
A growing body of research points to heterogeneity in the predictors of turnout and highlights the importance of longitudinal designs in exploring within-country variation as a remedy. Building on this perspective, the present study examines the determinants of district-level voter turnout in Turkey using a panel dataset covering all provinces across 18 general elections between 1950 and 2023. Leveraging the country's unique variation in institutional and socioeconomic structure across time and space, results based on the Mundlak regression show that compulsory voting, socioeconomic development, and democratizing elections are associated with higher turnout, while political fragmentation and larger party systems are linked to lower turnout. Surprisingly, elections held under majoritarian systems experienced higher turnout than those under PR. Findings from additional analyses further suggest that higher levels of wasted votes, driven by the 10% national electoral threshold, may have dampened voter turnout in PR elections in the more recent decades, particularly in some districts. Overall, these findings suggest that voter turnout is a function of both local-level contextual factors and aggregate-level institutional features.
High university dropout rates have negative outcomes for both students and society. Supportive student cooperation may play an important role in preventing intentions to quit by promoting engagement and reducing loneliness among students. There is a need for more knowledge about the association of student cooperation, academic engagement, loneliness, and intentions to quit. This study, therefore, examined the association between student cooperation and intentions to quit via emotional and behavioral engagement and loneliness. These associations were tested by using latent structural equation modelling with data from a survey conducted among 356 first-year students. The results indicated two separate paths from student cooperation to intentions to quit, one via emotional engagement and the other via loneliness. The findings thus suggest that facilitating cooperation may prevent students' intentions to quit by enhancing emotional engagement and reducing feelings of loneliness.
