Development of mass media research

 By Muhammad Ibrahim Abbasi

Development of Mass Media Research

Mass media research has involved in definable steps, and similar patterns have been followed lowed in each medium's needs for research.

Phase 1st

In 1st phase one of the research, there is an interest in the medium itself. What is it? How does it work? What technology does it involve? How is it similar to or different from what we already have? What functions or services does it provide? Who will have access to the new medium? How much will it cost? 

Phase 2

Phase 2 research begins once the medium in developed. In the phase, specific information is accumulated about the uses and the users of the medium. How do people use the medium in real life? Do they use it for information only, to save time, for entertainment, or for some other reasons? Do children use it? Do adults use it? Why? What gratifications does the new medium provide? What other types of information and entertainment does the new medium replace? Were original projections about the use of the medium correct? What uses are evident other the those that were predicted from initial research?

Phase 3

Phase 3 includes investigation of the social, psychological and physical effects of the medium. How much time do people spend with the medium? Does it change people’s perceptive about anything? What do the users of the medium want to expect to hear or see? Are there any harmful effects related to using the medium? In what way, if any , does the medium help people? Can the medium be combined with other media or technology to make it even more useful?

Phase 4

In Phase 4, research is conducted to determine how the medium can be improved, either in its use or through technological developments. Can the medium provide information or entertainment to more types of people? How can new technology be used to perfect or enhance the sight and / or sound of the medium? Is there a way to change the content to be more valuable or entertaining? In reality, once a medium is developed and established, research may be conducted simultaneously in all four phase. For Example, although television has been around for decades, researchers continue to investigate the medium itself (satellite-delivered digital audio and video) , the uses of TV on computers and handled devices, effects (violent programing), and improvements ( plasma TV). Research is never ending process. In most instances, a research project designed to answer one series of questions produces a new set of questions no one thought of before. This failure to reach closure may be troublesome to some people, but it is the essential nature of research.

Some Theories

At least four major events or social forces have encouraged the growth of mass media research. The first world war 1 , which promoted a need to understand the nature of propaganda. Research working from a stimulus-response point of view attempted to uncover effects of the media on people (Lasswell, 1927). The media at that time were thought to exert a powerful influence over their audience, and several assumptions were made about what the media could and could not do. One theory of mass media, later named the hypodermic needle model of communication, suggested that mass communication need only “shoot” massages at an audience and those messages would produce pre-planned and almost universal effects. The belief then was that all people behave in similar ways when they encounter media massages. We know that individual differences among people rule out this overly simplistic view. As DeFluer and Ball-Rokeach (1989) note. There assumptions may not have been explicitly formulated at the time , but they were drawn fairly elaborate theories of human nature, as well as the nature of the social order….. It was these theories that guided the thinking of those who saw the media as powerful.

Second Contributor

A second contributor to the development of mass media research was the realization by advertisers in the 1950s and 1960s that research data are useful in developing ways to persuade potential customers to buy products and services. Consequently, advertisers encouraged studies demographics and size, placement of advertising to achieve the highest level of exposure, frequency of advertising necessary to persuade potential customers and selection of the medium that offered the best chance of reaching the target audience.

Third Contributor

A third contributing social force was the increasing interest of citizens in the effects of the media on the public, especially on children. The direct result was an interest in research related to violence and sexual content in television programs. Researchers have expended their focus to include the positive as well as the negative effects of television. Increased competition among the media for advertising dollars was a fourth contributor to the growth of research. Most media managers are now sophisticated and use long-range plans, management by objectives , and an increasing dependency on data, to support the decision they make . Even program development. In addition, the mass media now focus on audience fragmentation, which means that the mass of people is divided into small groups, or niches (technically referred to as the demassification of the mass media). Researchers need information about these smaller groups of people. Positioning thus involves taking information from the audience and interpreting the data to use in marketing the medium. (For more information about positioning companies and products in the business and consumer worlds, see Rise & Trout, 1997,2001).

Much of the media research before the early 1960s originated in psychology and sociology departments at colleges and universities. Media department in colleges and universities grew rapidly in the 1960s, and media researchers entered the scene. Today mass media researchers dominate the mass media research field, and now the trend is to encourage cross-disciplinary studies in which media researchers invite participation from sociologists and psychologists and political scientists. Because of the pervasiveness of the media, researchers from all areas of science are now actively involved in attempting to answer media related questions. Modern mass media research includes a variety of psychological and sociological investigations such as psychological and emotional response to television programs commercials, or music played on radio stations. In additions computer modeling and other sophisticated computer analyses are now commonplace in media research to determine such things as the potential success of television programs (network of syndicated). Once considered eccentric by some mass media research is now legitimate and esteemed field.