Communications professor studies investment company websites

While navigating the web, how many times have you agreed to a particular site's terms by clicking a box marked "ok" or "I understand" without really reading the terms that you're agreeing to?

Doing so is apparently common enough to prompt the National Association of Securities Dealers Foundation to award a UConn communication sciences professor a grant to research how many people actually read the terms and conditions on investment company web sites and how to best inform online investors about the necessity of reading the fine print.

"I feel this is extremely important to investors and companies, since this is going to be our chance to educate online investors as well as investment companies," says Alex Wang, an assistant professor of communication sciences, who is the principal investigator on the $112,000 grant.

"There is a great need for the information presented to consumers to be disclosed in an effective way," he says, "to help them make better decisions in terms of investments."

Wang says he will conduct the research through a web site that investors can access in a lab on campus, enabling him to see how they move through the site and what information they access.

The research aims to address several questions:

• When is disclosure information that is delivered online most effective?
• Can disclosure information to investors be improved?
• What will enhance investors' comprehension and retention of disclosure information, and thereby improve their investment decision-making?
• What modes of online disclosure information work best in making novice and expert investors more effective in their investment decision-making?