A note on caveats.

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The ‘Key caveats’ listed after each study are factors which need to be taken into account if the study’s findings are applied to other contexts.

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One factor raised frequently is the use of undergraduate participants as a sample group. While past research has shown that student samples can be valid, student samples are inaccurate predictors of how significantly the issue in question will affect a broader population sample. (See R. A. Peterson, ‘On the use of college students in social science research: Insights from a second-order meta-analysis’, Journal of Consumer Research (2001) vol. 28.3, pp.450-461).

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As some of the research in the ‘Demographic Differences’ page shows, behaviour varies across cultures. It also varies, to some extent, across time periods.

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Charity giving also involves some fairly unique behavioral characteristics Participants’ past giving behaviour and experiences of charities are significant factors in their responses, and this is rarely checked as a variable in the studies presented on this website. (See A. Sargeant, ‘Charitable Giving: Towards a Model of Donor Behaviour, Journal of Marketing Management (1999) vol. 15.4: 215-38.)

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Some of this research also relates to text types outside of the charity fundraising context (e.g. product safety information).

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Lastly, many of the studies were undertaken under laboratory conditions, the artificiality of which (among other things) means there is often a slight difference between behaviour as reported in the study and behaviour in real life scenarios.

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Nonetheless, as many of these studies make clear in their discussions and conclusions, their findings serve as empirically valid and reliable indicators of responses to charity fundraising communications in a range of charity fundraising contexts.

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