This document provides an overview of media effects research and cultural approaches to media research. It discusses early theories like the hypodermic needle model and minimal effects model. It also covers research methods like experiments, surveys, and content analysis. Cultural studies focuses on how people make meaning through cultural symbols and examines power structures. Key concepts in cultural studies include the public sphere and viewing communication as culture. The document outlines the development of both effects-focused and cultural approaches to media research.

1. MEDIA EFFECTS AND
CULTURAL APPROACHES
TO RESEARCH
Chapter 15

2. MEDIA EFFECTS
Many people believe that media have a powerful effect on individuals
and society
This belief has led media researchers to focus most of their efforts on
two types of research: media effects research and cultural studies
research
Media effects research attempts to understand, explain, and predict
the effects of mass media on individuals and society
Cultural studies research focuses on how people make meaning,
apprehend reality, articulate values, and order experience through
their use of cultural symbols

3. EARLY MEDIA RESEARCH
METHODS

4. EARLY MEDIA RESEARCH
METHODS
Differences between French and American newspapers in the 1830s:
“In France the space allotted to commercial advertisements is very
limited, and…the essential part of the journal is the discussion of the
politics of the day. In America three quarters of the enormous sheet
are filled with advertisements and the remainder is frequently
occupied by political intelligence or trivial anecdotes”
More scientific approaches to mass media research did not begin to
develop until the late 1920s and 1930s
Four trends between 1930 and 1960 contributed to the rise of
modern media research: propaganda analysis, public opinion
research, social psychology studies, and marketing research

5. PROPAGANDA ANALYSIS
Propaganda analysis: the study of how governments used propaganda
to advance the war effort
After WWI, researchers found that during the war, governments
routinely relied on propaganda divisions to spread “information” to
the public
Propaganda was considered a positive force for mobilizing public
opinion during the war, researchers after the war labeled propaganda
negatively

6. PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH
Researchers soon went beyond the study of war propaganda and
began to focus more on general concerns about how the mass media
filtered information and shaped public attitudes
Today, social scientists conduct public opinion research, or citizen
surveys; these have become especially influential during political
elections
Public opinion research on diverse populations has provided insights
into citizen behavior and social differences, especially during election
periods or following major national events
Many people do not vote because they have seen or read poll
projections and have decided that their votes will not make a
difference

7. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES
While opinion polls measure public attitudes, social psychology
studies measure the behavior and cognition of individuals
Developed as a response to the effects of motion pictures, which had
become a particularly popular pastime for young people in the 1920s
Developments in mass communication research follow social change

8. MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing research was developed when advertisers and product
companies began conducting surveys on consumer buying habits in
the 1920s
Radio listeners were more difficult to trace than consumers of print
(newspapers, magazines)
This problem led to the development of increasingly sophisticated
marketing research methods to determine consumer preferences and
media use

9. RESEARCH ON MEDIA
EFFECTS

10. RESEARCH ON MEDIA EFFECTS
As concern about public opinion, propaganda, and the impact of
media merged with the growth of journalism and mass
communication departments in colleges and universities, media
researchers looked more and more to behavioral science as the basis
of their research
“Who says what to whom with what effect?”
If children watch a lot of TV cartoons, will the repeated act influence
their behavior toward their peers?
If people binge-watch a TV show, is their experience different than
people who watch week-by-week?

11. EARLY THEORIES OF MEDIA
EFFECTS
A major goal of scientific research is to develop theories or laws that
can consistently explain or predict human behavior
It has been difficult to develop systematic theories that explain
communication

12. THE HYPODERMIC-NEEDLE MODEL
One of the earliest media theories attributed powerful effects to the
mass media
Hypodermic-needle model: The concept of a powerful media
affecting a weak audience. It suggests that the media shoot their
potent effects directly into unsuspecting victims (also called the
Magic Bullet Theory or Direct Effects Model)
Although the hypodermic-needle model has been disproved over the
years by social scientists, many people still attribute direct effects to
the mass media

13. THE MINIMAL-EFFECTS MODEL
The Minimal-Effects Model states that media alone cannot cause
people to change their attitudes and behaviors
Selective Exposure: People expose themselves to the media messages
that are most familiar to them
Selective Retention: People retain messages that confirm the values
and attitudes they already hold
Minimal-effects researchers have argued that in most cases, mass
media reinforce existing behaviors and attitudes rather than change
them

14. THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
MODEL
The Uses and Gratifications (U&G, Uses and Grats) Model was
proposed to contest the notion of a passive media audience
Instead of asking “What effects do media have on us?” U&G asks “Why
do we use the media?”
Although the U&G model addressed the functions of the mass media
for individuals, it did not address important questions related to the
impact of media on society
If a media theory makes a prediction, is U&G a theory? Or a model?

15. CONDUCTING MEDIA EFFECTS
RESEARCH
Private sector research is generally conducted for a business, a
corporation, or even a political campaign. It typically addresses some
real-life problem or need
Public research usually takes place in academic and government
settings. It is often more theoretical than applied; it tries to clarify,
explain, or predict the effects of mass media
Hypotheses: Tentative general statements that predict the influence
of an independent variable on a dependent variable
H1: People who binge-watch a TV show will experience more
enjoyment than people who do not

16. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
1. Identifying 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 supported
7. Interpreting the implications of the study to determine whether they
explain or predict the problem
The scientific method relies on objectivity, reliability, and validity

17. EXPERIMENTS
Experiments in media research isolate some aspect of content and
manipulate variables to discover a particular medium’s impact on
attitude, emotion, or behavior
Experiments utilize experimental groups, control groups, and
randomization
When experiments carefully account for independent variables, they
generally work well to substantiated direct cause-effect hypotheses
Lab vs. field experiments
Conducting experiments using college students as subjects?

18. SURVEY RESEARCH
Survey research is the collecting and measuring of data taken from a
group of respondents
Surveys can tap into much larger populations than those used in
experiments
Surveys are usually generalizable to the larger society and they enable
researchers to investigate populations in long-term studies
(longitudinal)
Surveys can reveal correlations, but not causation

19. CONTENT ANALYSIS
Content analysis: A systematic method of coding and measuring
media content
This technique does not measure the effects of the messages on
audiences, nor does it explain how those messages are presented
How do researchers distinguish between slapstick cartoon aggression
and violent murders in a police drama?
Broad questions concerning the media as a popular art form, as a
measure of culture, as a democratic influence, or as a force for social
control are difficult to address through strict measurement
techniques
Critics of content analysis have objected to the kind of social science
that reduces culture to acts of counting

20. CONTEMPORARY MEDIA EFFECTS
THEORIES
What is a communication theory? It makes a prediction about
communication patterns
Researchers use communication theories to make predictions about
what they will find in their research (hypotheses are predictions, so
hypotheses are generally based in theory)
Transportation theory states that the fewer interruptions when a
person is consuming a narrative, the more likely they are to
experience enjoyment
So, what would your hypothesis in relation to binge-watching be if
you were using this theory?

21. AGENDA-SETTING THEORY
Agenda-setting: 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
Not what to think, but what to think about
The more stories the news media do on a particular subject, the more
importance audiences attach to that subject

22. CULTIVATION THEORY
Cultivation theory suggests that heavy viewing of television leads
individuals to perceive the world in ways that are consistent with
television portrayals
The more time individuals spend viewing TV and absorbing its
viewpoints, the more likely their views of social reality will be
“cultivated” by the images and portrayals they see on television
“Mean world” syndrome: Viewers with heavy, long-term exposure to
television violence are more likely to believe that the external world is
a mean and dangerous place

23. FRAMING THEORY
“To frame is to select some aspect of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to
promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral
evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described”
The way that a media message is presented shapes our interpretation
of the message

24. CULTURAL APPROACHES
TO MEDIA RESEARCH

25. CULTURAL STUDIES (CRITICAL
CULTURAL)
Cultural studies arose to challenge mainstream media effects theories
Cultural studies has focused on how people make meaning,
understand reality, and order experience by using cultural symbols
that appear in the media
This research has attempted to make everyday culture the centerpiece
of media studies, focusing on how subtly mass communication
shapes and is shaped by history, politics, and economics
Other cultural studies work examines the relationships between elite
individuals and groups in government and politics and how media
play a role in sustaining the authority of elites and, occasionally, in
challenging their power

26. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS IN
CULTURAL STUDIES RESEARCH
In Europe, researchers have approached the media as if they were
literary or cultural critics rather than experimental or survey
researchers
Three inadequacies of traditional scientific approaches to media
research:
1. Reduced large cultural questions to measurable and verifiable
categories
2. Depended on an atmosphere of rigidly enforced neutrality
3. Refused to place the phenomena of modern life in a historical and
moral context

27. CONDUCTING CULTURAL STUDIES
RESEARCH
Cultural studies research focuses on the investigation of daily
experience, especially on issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality,
and on the unequal arrangements of power and status in
contemporary society
Hegemonic Masculinity:
1. Power is defined in terms of physical force and control
2. Masculinity is defined through occupational achievement
3. Masculinity is hegemonic in terms of patriarchy (wife and kids)
4. Masculinity is symbolized by the daring rugged/frontiersman of
yesteryear and the present-day outdoorsman
5. Masculinity is hegemonic when defined heterosexually

28. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Textual analysis highlights the close reading and interpretation of
cultural messages, including those found in books, movies, and TV
programs
At first, textual analysis generally focused only on “important” or
highly regarded works of art, but by the end of the 1970s, a new
generation of media scholars, who had grown up on rock and roll,
began to study less elite forms of culture
The study of these seemingly minor elements of popular culture
provides insight into broader meanings within our society
By shifting the focus to daily popular culture artifacts, cultural studies
succeeded in focusing scholarly attention on the more ordinary ways
that “normal” people organize, experience, and understand their daily
lives

29. AUDIENCE STUDIES
Audience studies differs from textual analysis because the subject
being researched is the audience for the text, not the text itself
This type of work does not claim to be scientific, and findings are not
generalizable to all people
Audience studies can use a variety of interpretive methods, including
literary analysis, interviews, and questionnaires
These studies helped defined culture in broad terms—as being made
up of both the products a society fashions and the processes that
forge those products

30. CULTURAL STUDIES’ THEORETICAL
PERSPECTIVES
Developed as an alternative to the predictive theories of social
science research, cultural studies research on media is informed by
more general perspectives about how the mass media interact with
the world
Two foundational concepts in cultural studies research are:
1. The public sphere
2. The idea of communication as culture

31. THE PUBLIC SPHERE
The public sphere: Defined as a space for critical public debate
A democratic society should always work to create the most favorable
communication situation possible—a public sphere
Without an open communication system, there can be no
democratically functioning society
Modern societies should beware of “the manipulative deployment of
media power to procure mass loyalty, consumer demand, and
compliance with systematic imperatives” of those in power

32. COMMUNICATION AS CULTURE
Rejects the “transmission” view of communication—that is, that a
message goes simply from sender to receiver
Communication is more of a cultural ritual
Communication creates our reality and maintains that reality in the
stories we tell ourselves
Researchers should consider communication’s symbolic process as
culture itself

33. MEDIA RESEARCH AND
DEMOCRACY
One charge frequently leveled at academic studies is that they fail to
address the everyday problems of life, often seeming to have little
practical application
Scholarship is self-defeating if its complexity removes it from the
daily experience of the groups it addresses