COMM245 study guide Models of explanation Ideographic Identifying EVERY factor that led to a given outcome Fully explaining why a phenomenon happened on a small scale ex trying to piece together factors that may have led Lanza Sandy Hook shooter to carry out the unspeakable acts Nomothetic Identifying a few of the major factors that led to a given outcome Partially explaining the main reasons why a phenomenon happened on a large scale Finding the most important or significant factors overall useful in creating or recommending policy decisions ex Cancer one of the strongest factors that increases cancer risk is use of tobacco products so policy makers focus on tobacco products History of Media Effects Research Urbanization US popul began moving from rural agricultural areas to urban centers of manufacturing and industry newspaper circulation became efficient and more important sociologists became interested in the trend how newspapers are informing people and creating communities 1914 1918 WWI propaganda became important scholars were interested in how and why propaganda works Boom in movie theater attendance in the 20s young people started leaving home to hang out with friends and romantic partners society becomes concerned about this trend in terns of the time spent outside the house and the content that young people are being exposed to Payne Fund Studies 1929 The first large scale quantitative approach to media research response to concern about the effects of films on young people Ohio state university Used innovative methodologies and multiple methods physiological measuring sleep patterns sweat and heart rate Surveys asking kids lots of questions about themselves their attitudes and behaviors Quantitative Altitude Scales scale of 0 10 how favorable are you towards Long interviews of open ended questions Outcomes of Payne Study Youth appeared to be acquiring info from the films Ethnic Racial Social attitudes altered more tolerant attitudes towards certain groups Emotions stimulated fear effects from scary movies sleep patterns disturbed Imitative behavior Children who attended movies regularly were found to behave poorly in school compared to those who attended movies less often Are movies to blame Causality vs Correlation Temporal order is problematic There are 3rd variables like bad parenting attention disorders and drugs Payne Fund Studies also tried to measure what was IN the content of movies Measuring What s in Media Messages 2 diff ways to examine media CONTENT Content Analysis a way of measuring media content that is quantitative based on numbers nomothetic bc we use it to study large bodies of content Coding the act of quantifying the content Ex finding the percentage of people who are African American in a particular occupation on TV HEAD COUNT studies Uses mapping trends in content over time making comparisons between regions countries genres etc laying the groundwork for later studies of effects if you measure content first then you can make arguments about what different kinds of content ought to do to people bc of what s in it Advantages and disadvantages of content analysis Advantages permits statistical summaries allows for hypothesis testing ex This is how the content of media really is changing etc Disadvantages doesn t capture latent hidden meaning in the content no nuances does not capture audience interpretation 2nd way to examine media content Textual Analysis is a qualitative or interpretive way of studying media content descriptive used by scholars in Critical Cultural Approach Qualitative category of research that uses descriptive narratives like field notes recordings or other transcriptions from audio and video tapes and other written records and pictures or films Origins in literary studies like an in depth literary analysis Highlights both latent subtle hidden and manifest overt surface level themes Ideographic in depth critical probing analysis of small body of content doesn t need to be replicable selective perception Contextualized historically politically economically Makes arguments about possible effects of the content without testing them claims about why this matters but it s never tested not social science rhetorical dynamic Example Bell Hooks textual analysis of the Malcolm X movie in depth qualitative exploration of a small body of content one film Historical knowledge of history Economic industry appeal to large mainstream audience Argues that the film downplays militant aspects of Malcolm X and appeals to a broad mainly white audience Advantages and Disadvantages of Textual Analysis Advantages subtle and complex meanings provides context Disadvantages not easily replicable researchers might see what they want to see does not allow to make statistical summaries does not capture audience interpretation Neither method captures the audience interpretation of effects War of the Worlds and media effects People were freaked out bc there was what sounded like a real radio broadcast saying that aliens were invading The broadcast only said it was fiction at the beginning so if people tuned in late they got freaked out Radio was a trusted news source Realism used in the broadcast Historical context people were already freaked out from the war in Europe some people thought the aliens in the broadcast were actually Germans invading the US Internal and External Checks internal is asking yourself if this could really be happening External is verifying what s going on outside of yourself like looking outside and seeing if other people are freaking out or changing to a different radio station to see if they re broadcasting anything about it Factors internal external checks religious beliefs more likely to believe that something s happening because of the belief in the rapture Education critical thinking ability the higher educated were less scared because they rationalized the situation unusual listening situation someone tells you the world is ending and you tune into the broadcast with the perception that the world is ending Cantril framed the survey results as evidence of 28 of the listeners believed the broadcast contained real news bulletins 70 of them were frightened and disturbed he spun the numbers reinforced popular idea that media are powerful created a non falsifiable claim Stanton and Lazarsfeld saw the study as evidence of completely unsatisfactory and said that Cantril was a highly dangerous influence in the field they said the