AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF VOCAL PITCH AND SPEECH

RATE ON THE INITIAL CREDIBILITY OF THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES IN

PREACHING THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM AS PERCEIVED BY THE
HOUSEHOLDERS IN THE FIELD MINISTRY

By:

DIANNE KATRINA G. GARAS

An Undergraduate Thesis

In fulfilment of

the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Arts

in Speech Communication

University of the Philippines Diliman

College of Arts and Letters

May 2018
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I...................................................................................................................................1

Introduction..........................................................................................................................1

Background of the Study......................................................................................................1

Statement of the Problem.....................................................................................................5

Specific Objectives..............................................................................................................5

Significance of the Study.....................................................................................................6

Scope and Limitations of the Study.....................................................................................8

CHAPTER II................................................................................................................................10

Review of Related Literature.........................................................................................................10

Ethos as Affected by Selected Speaker Characteristics ....................................................10

Effects of Speech Rate on Speaker Credibility .................................................................12

Effects of Speech Rate on Speaker Credibility..................................................................15

Initial Ethos in the context of Public Speaking .................................................................17

Initial Ethos in the context of Interpersonal Communication ...........................................19

Synthesis of Related Literature .........................................................................................20

Theoretical Framework..................................................................................................................21

Aristotle’s Modes of Persuasion........................................................................................21

Artistic Mode: Ethos..........................................................................................................22

Dimensions of Ethos..........................................................................................................22

Three Stages of Ethos........................................................................................................23

 Artistic Mode: Pathos and Logos.......................................................................................24

Summary............................................................................................................................24

Conceptual-Operational Framework..............................................................................................25

Graphical Presentation of the Theoretical Framework..................................................................26

Definition of Terms .......................................................................................................................27

Hypotheses ....................................................................................................................................29

CHAPTER III.............................................................................................................................30

Research Design................................................................................................................30

Sampling Procedure...........................................................................................................31

Respondents .....................................................................................................................32

Research Instrument...........................................................................................................32

Data Gathering Procedures...............................................................................................33

Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................34

CHAPTER IV..............................................................................................................................38

Demographic Data of the Respondents ............................................................................38

Presentation of Findings ...................................................................................................44

Analysis of Data ...............................................................................................................45

Interpretation......................................................................................................................52

Synthesis ..........................................................................................................................55

CHAPTER V................................................................................................................................58

Summary and Conclusions ..............................................................................................58

Implications of the Study...................................................................................................59

 Recommendations for future Studies ................................................................................61

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................62

APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................64
 ABSTRACT

The objectives of this study were to determine the following: (1) the effect of vocal pitch

on the initial credibility of the Jehovah’s Witnesses as perceived by the female householders, (2)

the effect of speech rate on the initial credibility of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the same context

of proselytization, and (3) the effect of the householders’ perceived initial credibility of the

Jehovah’s Witnesses on their willingness to listen to them. The researcher anchored her study to

Aristotle's Classical Rhetorical Theory because it provides concrete propositions that are

appropriate to satisfy the objectives of this particular research. Furthermore, McCroskey and

Teven’s Source Credibility Measures was utilized to measure the credibility of the source of the

message. This study was experimental in form since it utilized pre-recorded messages according

to the predetermined levels of the selected speaker characteristics (vocal pitch was characteized

by two levels: high and low; speech rate on the other hand was characterized by three levels: fast,

average, and slow). A total of 65 female householders, 18-77 years of age were purposively

selected to participate in this study. Each pre-recorded message was evaluated by 30 female

householders from the pool of 65 listener participants to significantly represent the population of

interest. Results of this study showed that vocal pitch was indirectly proportional to perceived

initial credibility, while speech rate did not affect the dependent variable at all. The perceived

initial credibility however is directly proportional to the householder’s willingness to listen to the

source.