Deck 15: Social Scientific and Cultural Approaches to Media Research

Question 1

The results of this kind of research method are usually generalizable to a larger population.

A)Surveys
B)Experiments
C)Content analysis
D)Focus group interviews
E)Pseudo-polls

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds made millions of listeners believe that Martians were invading Earth; most listeners, however, did not believe that the story was real.Those outcomes ultimately helped support which research model?

A)Hypodermic-needle model
B)Minimal-effects model
C)Uses and gratifications model
D)Survey model
E)Textual-analysis model

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Media effects research first emerged because of concerns about television violence.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

For this kind of method, researchers systematically code and measure media content.

A)Experiments
B)Focus group interviews
C)Surveys
D)Content analysis
E)Political economy

Question 5

One key difference between content analysis and textual analysis is the greater emphasis on counting, measurement, and reliability in content analysis.

Question 6

Social psychology studies measure the attitudes, behavior, and cognition of individuals.

Question 7

TV viewers who believe that crime is more prevalent than it really is provide evidence for which theory of media effects?

A)Bullet theory
B)Uses and gratifications
C)Cultivation effect
D)Agenda-setting
E)Spiral of silence Fill in the Blank

Question 8

Harold Lasswell's Crystallizing Public Opinion is considered by many academics to be the founding book in American media studies.

Question 9

Which kind of research method employs a control group for comparison?

A)Surveys
B)Experiments
C)Content analysis
D)Focus group interviews
E)Political economy

Question 10

The notion that people engage in selective exposure and selective retention when experiencing various media is a component of which model of media research?

A)Uses and gratifications model
B)Minimal-effects model
C)Hypodermic-needle model
D)Marketing-research model
E)Propaganda-analysis model

Question 11

Which of the following is characteristic of a cultural studies approach to mass media research?

A)The belief that audiences are primarily passive and easily persuaded
B)An attempt to understand how people use media to serve their own ends
C)The belief that media do not tell us what to think but what to think about
D)A focus on how people experience and interpret their lives through media
E)An interest in measuring and coding the content of particular media texts

Question 12

Between 1930 and 1960, "who says what to whom with what effect" became the key question "defining the scope and problems of American communications research."

Question 13

The minimal-effects model of mass media research holds that the media reinforce existing behaviors and attitudes rather than change them.

Question 14

The close reading and interpretation of the meaning of cultural forms is called

A)Content analysis
B)Agenda-setting
C)Textual analysis
D)The cultivation effect
E)Uses and gratifications

Question 15

Textual analysis is able to demonstrate the effects of the media on audiences.

Question 16

This line of research suggests that heavy viewers of television are more likely than light viewers to perceive reality in ways that are more consistent with "TV reality."

A)Cultivation effect
B)Agenda-setting
C)Political economy
D)Textual analysis
E)Audience studies

Question 17

Agenda-setting theory refers to the media's ability to change public opinion on controversial issues.

Question 18

The idea that the media tell us what to think about rather than what to think is key to which theory of media effects?

A)Agenda-setting
B)Cultivation effect
C)Content analysis
D)Uses and gratifications
E)Propaganda