SOC 351 Social Aspects of Media Professor Ann Reisner Used to thinking about communication information as a neutral good o Huge shift in amount of information available o Need to shift to thinking about information as potentially a non neutral good How much communication information per day or week or year o Major way we social scientists policy makers public get information is survey o A question about a topic that you can answer through systematically gathering research Research question data o For example What is the impact of social media on teenage friendships How many hours a day are people using mass media TV radio internet What s the least represented minority group on television o Not a research question Survey 1st of 3 methods Is Friends really the stupidest TV show ever o A procedure used to ask people what they are thinking feeling or doing In surveys you are asking people questions that they are capable of answering and are willing to answer o Survey analysis cannot tell you What is IN the text use content analysis What effect the text has use experimental analysis Terms o Population o Sample All of the members of the group that you want to study Members selected from the population to interview survey Each and every person should have an equal chance of being selected A sampling procedure that you use to get access to names you use o Sampling frame o Representative When the people selected to talk sample represent all important groups in the population Getting the sample o Researchers assume that if every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected that the sample will be representative of the overall population They will be selected in roughly the same proportions as they are in the general population Using a sampling frame o Sampling frame a list of the members of the group that you want to study relative to the question you are asking The sampling frame is part of the procedure that you use to get the sample Sampling frame MUST be as close to the population as possible o When the sampling frame is systematically biased leaves out important groups you can will introduce bias into the sample Every 10th Sargent Asking the rich but not the poor Questions o Constructing a question Questions must be Easy to answer clear straightforward easy to answer and Not bias the respondent in any one direction o Surveys are not good when People do not know the answer People are unwilling to give you the answer People are more likely to give you the answer they think you want or the morally acceptable answer o Question bias Hard to understand Ambiguous or vague phrases Biased words phrases Halo effect Jargon technical terms terms that the audience doesn t know Example would you agree with Hitler that veganism is a good eating lifestyle Normatively sensitive questions questions in which there is a socially correct answer Double barreled questions one thought per question please No answer category Response rate o Need response rate of 60 percent o In truth you can actually get pretty good understanding with low response rates BUT Under 60 percent you need to look harder at whether all important groups are sampled so it is more doubtful Rapid growth information o Rapid growth information over very short amount of species time 2 to the 60th power We cannot absorb it o Effects of growth of information Information overload Problem of automaticity Automaticity make short hand decisions that cut down on our need to process information o Automatic response or habit Grocery shopping Colleges Effects specific to audio not silence Hearing impairment Interference with hearing spoken conversation Poor sleep Cardiovascular disturbances Mental health disturbances Impaired work performance Negative social behavior o Exposure effects Reduced social skills Socially awkward adults Reduced use of information Reduced morality children learn morality from television Reduced skill levels o Being in nature can reduce negative effects Relaxation stress reduction mental restoration Decreased mental fatigue increased mental clarity and increased sense of well being Increase in physical health and healing and improved sense of well being Internet addiction survey o Findings Students were addicted psychologically to electronic media When electronic media were removed the students reports Boredom Lost and confused Distressed The Kaiser Reports suggest that children 15 18 are exposed slightly under 12 hours of media per day Uses and Gratifications o Why do people use media what do they get o Terms Uses and Gratifications People actively seek out certain kinds of media content to satisfy a variety of personal needs People have different wants and needs psychological make up People actively seek out specific media to provide experiences that fulfill these wants needs goal oriented So media are competing with one another for attention o Information personal identity social interaction Active audience audiences actively construct how they use the entertainment media o Information personal identity social interaction entertainment o What pleasure they receive Individual and social context o What readings they will have Active audience Goal oriented Functions of media Models to explain uses and grats covered in Jennings 124 125 Assumptions of uses and grats Assumes an active audience Assumes that people use media for gratification Assumes their selections fulfill social and psychological factors Assumes competition and mediation among media people choose the media that best fulfills their needs Criticisms of uses and grats Too focused on individual Self reporting very serious criticism o Functions of the media Surveying the environment Surveillance Reality checking correlation of environmental parts Transmit social norms and customs Acculturation immigrants etc Acquiring social norms and customs new generations Entertainment Anxiety reduction Play Escapism Para social interaction Exposure o Why do people watch what they do Uses and Gratifications In most research viewers give positive reasons o Habit pass time o Entertainment o Relaxation Reis s Profile and reality shows Reis argues that basically we have a limited set of drives Everything we do is in response to these sets of drives o 16 different drives o Different intensities and packages Results major differences o The more reality TV shows a person liked the greater the need for status a need for prestige and or attention Full standard