Chapter 18 - Research in Media Effects

1. Assume you are the director of a new research institute designed to study the effects of the mass media. Further assume that you have millions of dollars at your disposal to support research projects. What would be your research priorities? What area of mass media effects is the most important to study? Why?

2. Why is it difficult to do field experiments that examine the anti-social effects of the media?

3. How effective is the V-chip? Conduct an informal survey with parents to see how many of them actually know what the chip is supposed to do? You might also ask them if the know them meaning of those rating symbols (e.g., TV-13, DL) that appear before a program.  How many people know the meanings of the various rating symbols?  Do they consider them when deciding what their children can and cannot watch on TV or at the movies?

4. Conduct a small-scale agenda-setting analysis content analysis of a two-week sample of your campus newspaper. Calculate what campus news topics have been given most space. Next, do a survey of students and ask them to rank order what they think are the most important campus issues. Are the two lists similar?