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Chapter 16 Research and Theory

Chapter 16 Research and Theory. Effects of Mass Media. Basics of Research and Theory. Research often looks at questions and the answers to those questions are turned into theories American research begins in the 1920s Most media research is quantitative

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Chapter 16 Research and Theory

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  1. Chapter 16Research and Theory Effects of Mass Media

  2. Basics of Research and Theory • Research often looks at questions and the answers to those questions are turned into theories • American research begins in the 1920s • Most media research is quantitative • Content analysis/violent acts/drugs used • Questions about consumption/volume • Arbitron • Nielsen

  3. More • Questions about impact/make you violent • Developmental view • Slow and steady accumulation of knowledge • Self-correcting

  4. Legacy of Fear • Do mass communications present false images of the world to the public? • Do the American media promote unacceptable behavior among children? • Can mass media shape our attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors? • Are mass communications dominating the political process and limiting intelligent decision making?

  5. Magic Bullet Theory • Immediate, direct and uniform effects on everyone who received a media message • Darwin/evolution • Uniform inherited instincts • Basic biology would say all humans will respond to stimuli in the same way

  6. Payne Fund Studies • Motion Picture Research Council 1920s • 40 million minors in a year including almost half under 14 went to the movies weekly • This is the first large scale attempt to measure effects of a major medium • 13 reports published in the 1930s • Confirmed critics charges and parental fears • Established important questions STILL being pursued

  7. Two of the Reports • Blumer says movies are source of imitation, unintentional learning and emotional influence • Peterson/Thurstone say seeing movies changes children’s attitudes • Both were and can be shown to be invalid due to improper almost unethical research methods

  8. Research SHOULD … • Have a random sample • Be valid—measures what it claims to measure • Be reliable—if repeated using the same techniques it would yield similar results • Be unbiased • Use both control and experimental groups • Experimental groups each element can be controlled and evaluated individually • Control groups allow elements to occur naturally

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