The impact of television on society - Research Proposal Example

?Assignment Research Question How does television affect society as far as the perception of gender roles and with regards to whether it increasesaggression in children? Independent variable: television viewing Type: Continuous. Attributes: Range of values representing the amount of time and what kind of programs are viewed. Dependent variable: perception of gender roles and whether aggression increases. Type: Discrete Attributes: Is not affected by television, is affected by television. Hypothesis H1 – the more television viewing of violent shows a child watches, the more likely he or she is to exhibit aggressive behavior. H2 – the more television viewing an adult watches, the more likely they are to be influenced by gender stereotypes in advertising. H3 – the more television viewing which is either male or female centered an individual watches, the more likely that person is to be influenced by gender stereotypes portrayed in these shows. Assignment #2 Methodology Description of Qualitative Research The data collection method that I will be using is focus groups. Focus groups are considered to be qualitative research, so qualitative research in general will examined before examining the specific area of focus groups. Qualitative research involves in-depth analysis of a small amount of participants. This is accomplished by building relationships with the participants (Langelett, 2003). The most important focus of this, then, is gaining the trust of the participants, so the researcher should accomplish this trust by making friends with the participants and spending time with them. The questions that are presented in qualitative research are open-ended, which means that they cannot be answered with “yes” or “no,” and the participants need to give a thoughtful response. The data is then collected and patterns are ascertained in the responses (Langelett, 2003). There are various kinds of qualitative research, including grounded theory, where the theory develops during the data collection process, or is built by, and grounded in, the data, and is used to develop new theories; phenomenology, in which “the researcher identifies the essence of human experiences concerning a phenomenon as described in a study” (Hossain, 2008, p. 10); ethnography, which is grounded in cultural anthropology, and describes a culture or way of life in the eyes of a native, and seeks to understand the cultural patterns and perspectives of that culture in a natural setting; and narrative, which is examined fully in this paper. (Hossain, 2008, p. 10). Data collection in qualitative research can take the form of focus groups, which brings together a small group to talk about an area; direct observation, in which the researcher observes the subjects in a natural setting by becoming a part of the setting, such as becoming the part of a staff who performs normal duties around the subjects; and in-depth interviews, in which subjects are interviewed individually, with the aim of producing broad ranging, penetrating issues, without preset questions. (Hossain, 2008, p. 11). As stated above, my methodology is a case study using a survey to ascertain opinions and research. The other methodology is the literature review. The purpose of the literature review is to “1) provide a context for the research; 2) Justify the research...3) Show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge; 4) Enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject; 5) Illustrate how the subject has been studied previously...6) Show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field; 7) Help refine, refocus or even change the topic.” (Boote & Beile, 2005, pp. 3-15). The literature review provides a theoretical foundation upon which the qualitative data is based. (Aquino & Pagliarussi, p. 4). Qualitative research is used for interpretivists paradigms. The assumption which guides this type of research is that the social and physical realities of the subjects are going to be different from one to the other, so the researcher is looking for patterns of thinking, feeling and reacting in the situation (Hossain, 2008). The data is then analyzed in terms of themes that emerge from the qualitative sessions. Statistics, which are the lynchpin of other types of research, especially quantitative research, are not important in analyzing the data of the participants (Hossain, 2008). The main issue with qualitative research, and the potential drawback, is the softness of the data. As mentioned above, there is not hard statistics to analyze in a concrete, linear, fashion. Rather, there is thematic issues that need to be analyzed, and therefore there is the potential for researcher bias in the result. Because of this, validity and reliability are often issues which confront the researcher. Therefore, the researcher must always be cognizant of the limitations that might occur because of the nature of the research, and must work extra hard to ensure that the reliability and validity of the data is correct. One way of ensuring reliability is simply through keeping accurate records of the sessions. In particular, focus groups should be video and or audiotaped, and the observations made by the researcher should be meticulously recorded. There should also be a transcript prepared of the proceeding, and this transcript should be passed to multiple researchers for examination. If the same result is obtained through multiple researchers who look at the data, then reliability may be proved (Mays & Pope, 1995). Another issue that the researcher should consider is that of validity. Validity may be established by letting the participants view a record of the findings, and let them express whether the findings regarding their part of the data are accurate and what was intended by their responses (Mays & Pope, 1995). Triangulation or using multiple methods of data gathering and multiple informants are considered to be recursive checks against the validity of the researcher's interpretations. (Ambert et al., 1995). Cross-checking, triangulation and depth of research are all important in strengthening validity. (Ambert et al., 1995). Deviant cases also should be examined and explained, especially if these deviant cases are contradicted by other evidence (Mays & Pope, 1995). Focus groups are a kind of qualitative research, and they center around group interviews to gather the data (Kitzinger, 1995). Focus groups are centered around group interaction, and this interaction is important to the results. Therefore, although specific members of the group are asked specific questions, and the questioning may be orderly, group participation is encouraged throughout and cross-talking amongst the groups should be observed, recorded and interpreted (Kitzinger, 1994). Focus group is particularly suited for the analysis of the subject matter at hand, as Merton et al. (1956) states that focus groups originated as a way of assessing the effects of television and film (Merton et al., 1956). The natural way that participants interact with one another is an important aspect of the research, and the researcher needs to make careful observations of this interaction. This natural interaction helps the researcher understand the values, norms and shared knowledge that the group holds (Hughes & Dumont, 1993). The ideal size of the group is 6 to 8, and the groups should be informal, with the participants being made to feel relaxed with food and drink. Research Design The design of this study will be the formation of 3 different focus groups, consisting of 8 individuals, four men and four women, of which I will make observational field notes as the primary data collector. The specific goal of this project is to ascertain different aspects of culture and society which is impacted by television, so each of the focus groups will be centered around one specific aspect of society and culture which is affected by television. The first focus group will be centered around the impact that violence on television has on the viewer. The participants in this focus group will be parents of teenagers aged 13-16. The parents will be asked open-ended questions about the television viewing patterns of their child, specifically how much television the child watches and what types of programs the child watches. What is important here is that the parents will need to be honest about their child's viewing habits and what the child watches, because the research will attempt to find out if there is a correlation between the child's viewing of potentially violent programs, such as CSI,Criminal Minds, or other crime procedurals on television, and especially if the child watches shows on cable such as True Blood or Game of Thrones, both shows which portray more violence than is allowed on the networks. The parents may feel embarrassed to admit that their child is allowed to watch these television programs, therefore they must be made comfortable in admitting this. The focus group therefore will be diligent about recruiting two sets of parents who freely admit in the screening that their children watch violent television, and the hope is that these parents will freely admit this in the focus group as well, which will presumably make the other parents more comfortable in admitting the same. The next focus group will center around gender differences and how males and females are influenced by the portrayals of men and women on television, and how they perceive these roles. The questions will center around specific shows which potentially portray gender norms or stereotypes. Reality programming will also be included in this. The specific programs which will be a part of this focus group will be Sex and the City, as this program is female-centric, and the men on the show were often portrayed in a negative light; Entourage, as this is the opposite of Sex and the City; The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, as each of these shows portray both sexes in positive and negative lights; and Two and a Half Men,which centers around two men and Two Broke Girls, which centers around women. The final focus group will center around advertising and its effect on female and male perceptions of men and women in these commercials, as well as whether or not these advertisements have any effect on gender roles in the larger society. The focus group for this will view television advertisements, then answer open-ended questions regarding how they feel about the sex portrayals in these ads and whether or not these portrayals influence their thinking about the opposite sex and the same sex. Also of interest is whether advertising contributes to gender stereotypes in any way. Selection of Subjects The subjects will be approached in the local mall, with permission from the mall management to do this. The mall will be manned on a busy Saturday, when there is sure to be a diverse array of individuals who are shopping. The individuals will be enticed to fill out a short questionnaire about their television viewing habits, including the shows that they habitually watch, with the promise of a $25 gift certificate to be used at a local restaurant if they are chosen to be in the final focus groups. Furthermore, the information will be posted on social media websites with a banner asking for individuals to give feedback on television programs and advertising, with the promise of being paid $25 if they are selected to participate in the final focus group. The questionnaires will be geared so that the most diverse group of participants may be found, as far as ensuring that individuals from every age range is selected, and there should also be diversity in education, socioeconomic status and race between the participants. Moreover, the questionnaires are important because television viewing habits may be screened. The most desirable candidates will be individuals who watch between 4-8 hours of television per week. For the focus groups related to gender roles, participants will be selected who watch the specific programs that the focus group centers around. For the focus group related to violence and aggression, the goal will be to recruit parents of children who watch television between 4 to 8 hours a week. For the advertising focus group, there is not a set criteria as far as what kinds of shows the individuals watch, just that they watch a set amount of television per week, and do not have a DVR that enables them to fast forward through the commercials. Ethical Considerations The participants will be informed before the focus group begins about what to expect – what kind of questions they might expect, what kind of atmosphere, what kinds of participants will be encountered. They will be given the chance to either leave before the focus group begins or may leave at any time after the focus group begins, if they do not feel comfortable. They also do not have to answer any question that is put forth to them. They will sign a waiver to this effect. Assignment 3 – Literature Review and Data Analysis Literature Review Scholars have studied the effects that television has on society, and has focused on a number of discrete areas for their research. For instance, Kellner (1981) focused upon the aspect of television's impact on society which states that television is partially responsible for the fragmentation of society. Kellner states that since television viewing is typically consumed in isolation, active association with one another is supplanted by the television, and the consumption of media images is the substitute for “active, participatory, associative culture” (Kellner, 1981, p. 40). Kellner also notes that television has evolved over the years in its portrayal of gender, race and sexual orientation due to political pressure from representatives of these groups. Because of the vocal nature of feminists, civil rights activists and gay rights groups, television is often more progressive in its portrayal of these groups than the society at large, because the political pressure brought to bear by the interest groups has forced television into this progression and evolution. Thus, according to Kellner, the portrayal of television of women, blacks and gays in the 1960s and 1970s were progressive and in contrast to the actual sexism and racism which existed in the country during this time. At the same time, television is under pressure from conservative groups which object to the images of violence and sex, and the move away from traditional values, so television must also be cognizant of this. At the same time, Kellner also states that television lags in that it portrays movements after the fact. For instance, Kellner states that the civil rights movement produced, after the tumultous early civil rights victories in the early 1960s, portrayals of blacks on television. The women's rights movements in the 1960s produced television portrayals of the changing roles of women, as single families, working women, unmarried couples and homosexuals began being portrayed on television in response to this new paradigm. In this way, Keller states that television adjusts some groups to the societal changes in the lives of women, gays and racial minorities, while, at the same time, challenging traditionalists who do not agree with these changes in society, therefore might be resistance to the portrayals of these changes on television (Kellner, 1981). Sometimes television programs may highlight this tension between traditionalists and progressives as a source of comedic or dramatic tension, in that one of the characters represents the viewpoint of the traditionalist while another character takes the role of the progressive - All in the Family is a classic example of this (Newcomb & Hirsch, 1983). Therefore, television has evolved with regards to gender roles in response to how society itself has evolved regarding gender roles. Press (1989) studied how women perceived television realism and how they identified with the female characters on television. She was interested in patriarchy and how television influenced the perception of this and how much women identified with and thought female characters were realistic, with regards to their own personal experiences. One of the television programs that she studied, as far as its impact on perception and identification, was I Love Lucy. She found that middle class women and working class women had very different perceptions of the Lucy character – specifically, middle-class women tended to think that Lucy was clever and independent, while working class women saw Lucy as being sneaky and manipulative. Press believed that the middle-class women identified with Lucy's feminist tendencies and that the working class women disparaged these same tendencies and saw them as negative attributes. The Cosby Show was also studied by Press, in an effort to understand if this show exhibited realism. This show centers around two highly educated, highly paid professionals married to one another – a doctor and and a lawyer. Press states that this paradigm is atypical of both black and white families, as most families are not headed by such educated and affluent parents. Nevertheless, she found that working class women identified with the Huxtables, and did not see them as being atypical, but, rather, typical. Press attributes this to the careful way that this show had in portraying “an alternate version of the real world” (Press, 1989, p. 238). Press also found that working class women thought that Clair Huxtable was realistic, despite the fact that Clair, as a successful attorney, wife and mother, did not experience any stress over assuming all of these roles, and the household runs perfectly smooth. Furthermore, Clair was rarely, if ever, shown in her working capacity, only as a wife and mother. Press found one woman who believed that the portrayal was accurate for attorneys who are wives and mothers, because she saw other television portrayals of attorney/mother/wife with similar tones. This same woman, however, knew only one female attorney in her life, and this attorney was single and masculine, and not at all like Clair. Press saw this as an example of television influencing perception of reality in that the television potrayal was seen to be more accurate than personal experience. The middle-class women, on the other hand, saw The Cosby Show as being unrealistic, yet enjoyed it all the same. Press further found that working class women did not think that the television show Alice, which centers around a waitress was realistic. Press also found that working class women did not relate to other working class women and situations, or identified with them, such as Laverne and Shirley and The Honeymooners, because these situations are played for laughs, and comedy interfered with these women's identification of the characters and situations on these shows (Press, 1989). Gender roles in advertising is another fruitful area of research. Gilly (1988) did a study on the television advertising in Australia, Mexico and the United States, for their content and how they treated gender roles. Gilly found that the portrayals in Mexican advertising showed women in more traditional roles, and the women in advertisements in both the United States and Mexico were not normally portrayed in a professional role, such as being high level business executives. The advertisements in the United States and Mexico both featured more men than women, and in Australia the portrayal was roughly equal. In Mexico, women were more recipients of advice than were men, and in the United States, this was reversed (Gilly, 1988). Television violence, and whether this influences aggressive behavior in teenagers, is another impact on society that has been studied with regards to television. Johnson et al., (2002) found that television viewing at mean age 14 correlated with increased assaults and fights resulting in injury and any aggressive act towards other people. At age 22, there was also a significant association between the amount of television viewing and aggression (Johnson et al., 2002). Data Analysis The strategy for interpreting this data will be to record the utterances then look for themes. The themes in the utterances could be then grouped to indicate how many participants brought up a particular theme. For instance, the focus groups which are centered around gendered shows may bring up the theme of stereotyping of men in these shows, such as Two and a Half Men portrays men to be either sex crazed and drunk or emasculated. Other shows may have this same portrayal. To this end, the stereotyping of men into these particular categories may represent a theme, and then the utterances may be culled to see how many times this particular theme has come up, and what the particular respondents say about the details of the shows which cause them to say that these themes are prevalent. Or, for instance, both genders may state that a prominent theme of television advertising with regards to gender is that men are portrayed somewhat buffoonish, while women are portrayed as smart. This may be another theme, and the utterances will be examined to see how prevalent that theme is, what the respondents said about this particular theme, and what commercials seem to bear this theme out. The same may go for violence on television – a theme could be here that there is much more violence against women portrayed than violence against men, and that this could lead to more aggression against women. This is another theme that may be explored in the same manner. What is important with these groups is that the conversations should progress how they may, with little leading or prodding by myself, the researcher. The participants will have basic questions to get the ball rolling, but the participants need to be able to freely dialogue about the topics and shows, so that emergent themes may come to light. They should not be in a box, answering specific questions, but, rather, be aware of what the general inquiry is, whether the general inquiry is regarding gender roles or aggression, and be allowed to state whatever comes to mind within these parameters. The expected findings should capture different phenomenon which has not been initially anticipated by this researcher when the focus groups get together and talk about these shows. However, the researcher does expect that the participants will note that there are biases and stereotypes in the television programs and advertising, and there is a great deal of violence on television. And, judging by the data found by Press (1989), another expected finding is that there will be a substantial difference between working class individuals and middle-class individuals as to the perception and identification of television characters and television shows. What these differences will be remains to be seen, but there will be expected to be differences. There will probably also be differences in the perceptions and identification of women in contrast with men for television shows and advertising, and blacks will have different perceptions and identifications than whites. In the end, these differences will be examined and classified, much like Press did in her study. Sources Used Ambert, A., Adler, P., Adler, P. &Dentzner, D. “Understanding and Evaluating Qualitative Research” Journal of Marriage and the Family 57.4 (1995): 879-893. Gillhy, M. “Sex Roles in Advertising,” The Journal of Marketing 52.2 (1988): 75-85. Hossain, D. “Qualitative Research Process,” pp. 1-15, (2008) web accessed 8 Febuary 2012, available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=1287238 Hughes, D., Dumont, K. “Using Focus Groups to Facilitate Culturally Anchored Research.” American Journal of Community Psychology, 21 (1993): 775-806. Johnson, J., Cohen, P., Smailes, E., Kasen, S. & Brook, J. “Television Viewing and Aggressive Behavior during Adolescence and Adulthood,” Science 295.5564 (2002): 2468-2471. Kellner, D. “Network television and American society,” Theory and Society 10.1: 31-62. Kitzinger, J. “The Methodology of Focus Groups: The Importance of Interaction Between Participants,” Sociology of Health and Illness, 16 (1995): 103-121. Kitzinger, J. “Introducing Focus Groups,” British Medical Journal, 311 (1995) : 299-302. Langelett, G. “The Qualitative Tradition: A Complimentary Paradigm for Research in Economic Education,” (2003) web accessed 8 Feb. 2011, available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=377000 Mays, N. & Pope, C. “Qualitative Research: Rigor & Qualitative Research” BMJ 311 (1995): 109. Merton, R., Fisk, M., Kendall, P. The Focused Interview: a Report of the Bureau of Applied Social Research. New York: Columbia University,1956. Newcomb,H. & Hirsch, P. “Television as a Cultural Forum,” Quarterly Review of Film Studies: 561- 571. Norris, P. “Does Television Erode Social Capital? A Reply to Putnam.” Political Science and Politics 29.3 (1996): 474-480. Press, A. “Class and Gender in the Hegemonic Process,” Media, Culture and Society 11 (1989): 229- 251. Read More