RTV 3007 EXAM 4 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED
ANSWERS
Media Theory & Effects p.1 - Answers - What does Media Theory and Effects Research
look like?
Last week we covered audience analysis research and you were introduced to some
related research terms and practices such as sampling, reliability, and validity. It is
important in audience analysis studies and media theory and effects studies that a large
enough sample is being examined so that results can be generalized to a larger
population, that effects can consistently been found over time, and that research is,
indeed, examining what it purports to examine.
In addition to the business-related answers that audience analysis research can
provide, media theory and effects can answer questions about how and why people use
certain media, what effects both positive and negative media can have over individuals,
and provide empirical evidence for media literacy and media regulation questions.
Media researchers have often examined what harmful effects the media (especially TV)
can have on individuals and society (especially children) due to public concern about
these issues.
Why the Media?
Why might it be important to look at patterns of effects of media over individuals and
societies? We spend more time with media than ever before. Here are some tidbits
about the vast amount of media and information available today, which far surpasses
the amount of information ever available before:
More information has been generated since your birth than in all of recorded history up
until your birth (that's pretty amazing!)
There are 1500 books published every day
Radio stations produce 65.5 million hours of original programming annually
TV stations produce an additional 48 million of programming annually
Not only is there more information with more media channels to deliver it to us, but
we're spending more and more time with media than ever before as well. Your text
mentio
Media Theory & Effects p.2 - Answers - What do we mean by Effects?
Before we discuss what we know from media theory and effects research, we need to
be on the same page on a number of terms and the scope of what we'll be discussing. I
promise that a.) There are no calculations involved, and b.) If you understand these
basics about the social science of media research, you will be more knowledgeable
than the majority of practicing media professionals about interpreting research findings.
, Empiricism = Is a belief that knowledge is gained from experience and observation.
Deals with real phenomenon in the world. We'll discuss only empirical data in this
course, which can be collected in either qualitative or quantitative ways.
Theory = The are causal explanations for an occurrence - they attempt to explain how
and why things happen. They are statements about the relationships between concepts
and patterns of predictable findings. They provide questions, methodologies, analysis
techniques to researchers.
Plenty of media scholars do not do empirical work - those who do "critical-cultural,"
"critical," "Marxist," and often "feminist" research look for examples of their ideas or
patterns in media texts or media & human interactions. For example, a Marxist media
scholar is always going to find a power inequity - between media owners and media
consumers, between celebrities on twitter and non-celebrities on twitter, etc.They start
their research knowing what they're going to find. An empirical media researcher starts
off with a question and then observes real-world phenomenon and through various
types of analysis, comes to a conclusion based on things that actually exist/happened.
We are only focusing on empirical research in this course.
A theory in the context of this course is not the "I have a theory about what makes the
best type of sandwich," kind used in la
Media Theory & Effects p.3 - Answers - Important Distinctions
1. Relationships among variables in our data can be described in 2 ways: They are
associated or they are causal.
Associations - Two variables are statistically related beyond chance. Ice cream sales
and violent crime are associated. Falling asleep with your shoes on and waking up with
a headache may very well be associated.
Causation - A causal relationship between variables demonstrates a directional
influence of one variable over another. This goes a step beyond association and it must
determine that the influencing variable came before the thing being influenced.
Causation can be inferred from experimental design or theory. It is much harder to
demonstrate. The variable causing an effect in another is called the independent
variable, and the variable being explained by, or caused by, the independent variable is
called the dependent variable.
So, a simple survey that looked at pre-teen boys' trait aggressiveness (by administering
previously validated scales) and exposure to violent media content (by asking them and
their parents about time spent with various types of media) could find a statistically
significant effect such that the more time boys spent with violent media, the higher trait
aggressiveness they demonstrated on the scales. That would be an association, but
they didn't establish a time-order relationship between aggressiveness and violent
media exposure. Surveys are notoriously difficult if not impossible to use to establish
which thing caused another thing to happen. Even though the survey found a
relationship that exists beyond random chance, the date does not tell us if exposure to
violent media makes boys more aggressive, or if aggressive boys seek out aggressive
content more. An experiment could expose a number of boys to violent media and then
measure how aggressive they beh
ANSWERS
Media Theory & Effects p.1 - Answers - What does Media Theory and Effects Research
look like?
Last week we covered audience analysis research and you were introduced to some
related research terms and practices such as sampling, reliability, and validity. It is
important in audience analysis studies and media theory and effects studies that a large
enough sample is being examined so that results can be generalized to a larger
population, that effects can consistently been found over time, and that research is,
indeed, examining what it purports to examine.
In addition to the business-related answers that audience analysis research can
provide, media theory and effects can answer questions about how and why people use
certain media, what effects both positive and negative media can have over individuals,
and provide empirical evidence for media literacy and media regulation questions.
Media researchers have often examined what harmful effects the media (especially TV)
can have on individuals and society (especially children) due to public concern about
these issues.
Why the Media?
Why might it be important to look at patterns of effects of media over individuals and
societies? We spend more time with media than ever before. Here are some tidbits
about the vast amount of media and information available today, which far surpasses
the amount of information ever available before:
More information has been generated since your birth than in all of recorded history up
until your birth (that's pretty amazing!)
There are 1500 books published every day
Radio stations produce 65.5 million hours of original programming annually
TV stations produce an additional 48 million of programming annually
Not only is there more information with more media channels to deliver it to us, but
we're spending more and more time with media than ever before as well. Your text
mentio
Media Theory & Effects p.2 - Answers - What do we mean by Effects?
Before we discuss what we know from media theory and effects research, we need to
be on the same page on a number of terms and the scope of what we'll be discussing. I
promise that a.) There are no calculations involved, and b.) If you understand these
basics about the social science of media research, you will be more knowledgeable
than the majority of practicing media professionals about interpreting research findings.
, Empiricism = Is a belief that knowledge is gained from experience and observation.
Deals with real phenomenon in the world. We'll discuss only empirical data in this
course, which can be collected in either qualitative or quantitative ways.
Theory = The are causal explanations for an occurrence - they attempt to explain how
and why things happen. They are statements about the relationships between concepts
and patterns of predictable findings. They provide questions, methodologies, analysis
techniques to researchers.
Plenty of media scholars do not do empirical work - those who do "critical-cultural,"
"critical," "Marxist," and often "feminist" research look for examples of their ideas or
patterns in media texts or media & human interactions. For example, a Marxist media
scholar is always going to find a power inequity - between media owners and media
consumers, between celebrities on twitter and non-celebrities on twitter, etc.They start
their research knowing what they're going to find. An empirical media researcher starts
off with a question and then observes real-world phenomenon and through various
types of analysis, comes to a conclusion based on things that actually exist/happened.
We are only focusing on empirical research in this course.
A theory in the context of this course is not the "I have a theory about what makes the
best type of sandwich," kind used in la
Media Theory & Effects p.3 - Answers - Important Distinctions
1. Relationships among variables in our data can be described in 2 ways: They are
associated or they are causal.
Associations - Two variables are statistically related beyond chance. Ice cream sales
and violent crime are associated. Falling asleep with your shoes on and waking up with
a headache may very well be associated.
Causation - A causal relationship between variables demonstrates a directional
influence of one variable over another. This goes a step beyond association and it must
determine that the influencing variable came before the thing being influenced.
Causation can be inferred from experimental design or theory. It is much harder to
demonstrate. The variable causing an effect in another is called the independent
variable, and the variable being explained by, or caused by, the independent variable is
called the dependent variable.
So, a simple survey that looked at pre-teen boys' trait aggressiveness (by administering
previously validated scales) and exposure to violent media content (by asking them and
their parents about time spent with various types of media) could find a statistically
significant effect such that the more time boys spent with violent media, the higher trait
aggressiveness they demonstrated on the scales. That would be an association, but
they didn't establish a time-order relationship between aggressiveness and violent
media exposure. Surveys are notoriously difficult if not impossible to use to establish
which thing caused another thing to happen. Even though the survey found a
relationship that exists beyond random chance, the date does not tell us if exposure to
violent media makes boys more aggressive, or if aggressive boys seek out aggressive
content more. An experiment could expose a number of boys to violent media and then
measure how aggressive they beh
