Comm chapter 3

Media Research

Systematic and scientific investigation of communication processes and effects.

Media Research methodology

How research is carried out, either quantitatively or qualitatively.

Media theories

Tools to help media professionals predict or explain phenomena and understand the world.

19th-20th-century Europe and US

Dramatic societal and political changes from industrialization provided a backdrop for early theorizing on mass communication.

Notion of 'the masses'

An elite's rationale for why they should continue to rule.

Transmission models

Mathematical theories of communication, including Shannon and Weaver's model (1948) and Schramm's Simplified communication model (1954).

Schramm’s Simplified Communication Model (1954)

Includes a source who encodes a message transmitted to a receiver who decodes it.

Critical Theory

Influenced by Marxist notions about ideology, exploitation, capitalism, and the economy.

Media-Effects Research

Research focus on how media effects influence movie ratings, TV regulations, and advertising.

Propaganda

Regular dissemination of belief or information to mold public opinion.

Hypodermic-needle model

Claim that media messages have a profound, direct, and uniform impact on the public.

Payne Fund studies (1928-1933)

Concluded that films could influence children differently and revealed they could learn positive lessons from film.

Radio’s wider impact

Notable example is Orson Welles’s War of the Worlds broadcast (1938).

Bobo doll studies

1950s experiments showing children who observed rewarded violence were more likely to exhibit violent behavior.

Third-person effect

The tendency to overestimate the impact of media on others while underestimating the impact on oneself.

Criticisms of Research

Acknowledges challenges in measuring media effects and the complexity of the communications process.

Audiences creating meanings

Theories like Uses and gratifications, Encoding/decoding, and Reception analysis explore how audiences derive meaning.

Framing

How the particular communication of a message influences perception.

Cultural Studies

Research aimed at improving culture rather than merely describing it.

Sociohistorical Frameworks

Includes information society, political economy, and media ecology.

Media Ecology

Focuses on how the media environment shapes our understanding of the world.

Agenda setting

The influence of mass media in controlling public conversation.

Reading Research

Involves examining title, author, foundations, methodology, and results of research.