JMC 1100 1st Edition Lecture 5 Media Uses and Effects Experiments The Last Best Method for Media Effects In the Media World I Detroiter walks 21 miles to work a Not anymore thanks to GoFundMe com b More than 290 000 raised i Power of social media created this opportunity for him ii 10 000 people donated money average person 20 30 dollars II Punch Count a Society creates Media i Held opinions because of strangers b Media creates society i Is it something reinforced Last Time I II Content analysis Surveys polls a Learn public opinion b Generalize to big populations Sampling a Random vs non random b Margin of error III Today I Experiments a Las of the Big 3 Content Analysis and Surveys b Experiments components i Whether we can trust it c Correlation and causality i Understanding the difference Experiments II III Method designed to test for cause and effect a Usually done in closed conditions for accuracy b Used Variables something we can observe that may change from person to person group to group ex Demographics i Certain behavior Plus Subjects and stimuli in the same location a Allows you to see results as they happen These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute IV Minus closed conditions are not the real world a Few people watch TV in a room with people watching them Experimental Designs I Find subjects and assign to random groups a Treatment group group you are studying subjects b Control group neutral group for perspective c GOAL groups are equal regarding types of people age race gender Why Have a Control Group II Purpose create neutral regular group of viewers a Allows you to compare results and determine effects i Ex want to buy a sludge hammer after watching violence b Accounts for bias when people are observed Hawthorne effect of uncertainty principle i Ex do you act differently when observed ii Paved the way for behavioral management c Group doesn t watch study content or watches different content Experimental Example I Study conducted on brain function and violent video games d Playing violent video games alters the brain neurologic showed less activity in the emotional portion of the brain e People with long exposure have physiological change towards aggression and lack of emotion more of it Goals of Experiments II Correlation f Relationship between two 2 variables BUT no cause and effect III Causality Gold Medal Result a Relationship between two variables such that one influences the other creates it or changes it somehow Correlation In practice I Terrorism and Snowboarding a Both could go up in 2015 b Doesn t mean there is a connection Causality In Practice II Cats and Brain Damage a Treating of cat litter and feces can cause brain damage i Alters ability to react and think in a timely manner and a certain way impacts the health of fetal babies 3 Criteria needed for Causality 1 Logical association between variables a Example watching sexual content on TV triggers sexual behaviors 2 Constant Time Order one always occurs before the other a Teens start watching TV years before they are already sexually active 3 All other Variables Ruled Out a Other reasons teen could be sexually active i Parents absent are they gone a lot ii Teens may be lonely it might have nothing to do with content iii Teens could be bored nothing to do where they are living How We Know our Experiment Works III It achieves Statistical Significance a Relationship or difference between variables that did not occur by chance IV KEY Something meaningful is happening a Can conclude study results are correct b Ex RevengePorn and depression in victims i After break up pictures are shared costs money to take down ii Women don t want to leave scared to go to work iii Some have attempted suicide Experiments Valid when I Replication a Design and methods yield same results over and over again II Convergence a Different methods yield similar results Conclusion I II III Experiments are a great way to connect cause and effect Correlation does not mean Causation Key experiments must be statistically significant