The fundamental limits of the functional approach to the study of mass communication are embodied in two of its criticisms. The first weakness is in its logical structure and the second involves the limits that are set by known methods. Functional analysis has difficulties as a meaningful research perspective because the process of mass…

In order to study the influence of need for orientation and media gratifications on media use and media effects in political communication, two previous surveys were studied to compare the causal modeling approach and the contingent conditions approach. In the first study, 339 personal interviews were conducted with registered voters during a…

The twentieth century history of the academic study of political communication can be divided into three parts: the period between the World Wars, the period 1940-1965, and the period from 1965 to the present. In the first period, social scientists were greatly concerned that the democratic process might be subverted by propaganda; they were…

Based on data from eight studies that have contributed the bulk of research on adolescents' uses of and gratification from the medium of television, the following conclusions emerge: the time spent watching television peaks at age 12 and declines by 10% by age 18; television provides a means of escape, relaxation, entertainment, and relief from…

Purposes and alternative forms of mass communications research are explored in this four-part presentation. Part One examines the origins of, and the differences between, two conflicting types of research: administrative research, in which the mass media are perceived as neutral tools, capable of serving a wide range of purposes; and critical…

This report deals with several questions concerning the Finnish people's conceptions of the mass media, especially in a situation when the introduction of a new medium, television, is changing the field of mass communication. The subjects for the survey were television owners and non-owners in Lapland. The questions dealt with in this descriptive…

The study reported in this paper expands the arena of agenda-setting to include the content of a small daily newspaper and what the people of that community say they read and talk about during a non-political period. The newspaper's agenda was established by content analysis of 51 issues, resulting in classification of 3415 stories in 41 content…

Media use patterns for an anticipated event of considerable magnitude--the resignation of Richard Nixon--were hypothesized as likely to put a high contraint on interpersonal learning. Information for the study was gathered in a telephone survey of persons living in and around the southern Illinois town of DeSota (population 966). Of the 241…

The political scandals known as Watergate provided an unusual opportunity to study the importance of attitudinal and cognitive variables in media research. In order to assess the impact of Watergate during the months preceding the 1974 Congressional elections, 339 personal interviews were conducted during October with a probability sample of…

This study was designed to explore two questions: do a listener's reactions differ by media; and do variables such as credibility, saliency, and recall function independently in realistic rhetorical situations? The study was designed to investigate listening variables as they function in field communication situations through the use of…

The purpose of this paper is to extend Gage Chapel's application of Kenneth Burke's dramatistic pentad to the persuasive aspects of television programs and to examine its relevance to television criticism. The five concepts underlying a Burkeian analysis are discussed: act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose, and the elements within Burke's…

The quarterly progress report for Children's Television Workshop describes the major activities and accomplishments in production and research for the Sesame Street and Electric Company programs. In addition, activities in community education services, public affairs, personnel, and budget are described. (HAB)

The purpose of this study was to determine the various ways in which audience members recall and quantify messages coming through the different media. The data presented here were collected during the course of a panel study into the social context of mass media use. The measurement and analytic techniques are exploratory. The respondents were…

This paper offers the hypothesis that in times of low collective excitement rumors in a complex society whose content is beyond normal social discourse (a spectral rumor, for instance) will increasingly exhibit one or the other, or both, of two legitimizing agents--authority and mass media--as a means of gaining greater plausibility and…

A clearer understanding of the capacity of research and researchers in the mass communication field is needed. In the past, when statistical researchers have found they cannot meet criteria, they have devised a new set of test characteristics. For example, when validity cannot be measured, researchers measure reliability, despite the fact that…