COM 107 CHP 15: Media Effects & Cultural Approaches to Research

Media Effects

Attempts to understand, explain, and predict the effects of mass media on individuals and society and relies primarily on tools rooted in the scientific method.

Cultural Studies

Tries to understand the complex relationship among media texts, the people who consume them, the institutions that produce them, the technologies used to create and distribute them, and the culture within which all the other factors exist.

Public Sphere

A space for critical public debate advanced by German philosopher Jurgen Habermas in 1962

Communication as Culture

Correlation

Cause and Effect

Hypodermic-needle model

Suggests that the media shoot their potent effects directly into unsuspecting victims.

Scientific method

1) Identify the research problem

2) Reviewing existing research and theories related to the problem

3) Developing working hypotheses, or predictions, about what the study might find

4) Determining an appropriate method or research design

5) Collecting information or relevant data

6) Analyzing results to see if the hypotheses have been verified

7) Interpreting the implications of the study to determine whether they explain or predict the problem

Survey research

The collecting and measuring of data taken from a group of respondents.

Pseudo-polls

Typically call-in, online, or person-in-the-street nonscientific polls that the news media use to address a “question of the day”.

Experiments

In media research isolate some aspect if content; suggests a hypothesis; and manipulate variables to discover a particular medium.

Content Analysis

A systematic approach to coding (or categorizing) and measuring media content in order to identify and quantify different types of media texts.

Minimal-effects model

A mass communication research model based on tightly controlled experiments and surveys; it argues that people generally engage in selective exposure and selective retention with regard to the media; also known as the limited model.

Cultivation effect

In media research, the idea that heavy television viewing leads individuals to perceive the world in ways that are consistent with television portrayals.

Uses and gratifications model

A mass communication research model, usually employing in-depth interviews to supplements survey questionnaires, that argues that people use the media to satisfy various emotional desires or intellectual needs.

Third-person effect

The theory that people believe others are more affected by media messages than they are themselves.

Social Learning Theory

A theory within media effects research that suggests a link between the mass media and behavior; later modified and renamed social cognitive theory.

Agenda-setting theory

The idea that when the mass media focus their attention on particular events or issues, they determine-that is, set the agenda for-the major topics of discussion for individuals and society.

Spiral of Silence

The theory says that people who hold minority views on controversial issues tend to keep their views silent.

Political Economy Studies

An area of academic study that specifically examines interconnections among economic interests, political power, and how that power is used.

Textual Analysis

A method for closely and critically examining and interpreting the meanings of culture, including architecture, fashion, books, movies, and TV programs.

Audience Studies

Cultural studies research that focuses on how people use and interpret cultural content. Also known as reader-response research.