Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 40-09, Section: A, page: 4789. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

To test the hypothesis that the questionnaire is superior to the traditional brochure in enhancing issue salience, and to provide data for further exploratory investigations, a controlled case study was conducted using a field experimental design. Three conditions, questionnaire alone, brochure alone, and questionnaire and brochure in combination--"Combination"--were employed in a mailing to a random sample of 3,000 State of Florida Career Service Employees living in Leon County, Florida. Differential rates of return of business reply cards requesting additional information on the topic dealt with in the mailing reflected the relative efficacy of each condition in heightening issue salience and information seeking. / To test the extent to which importance-conferral may be a function of the questionnaire effect a comparison between the questionnaire and brochure treatments was performed on a self importance question on the business reply card. / Respondent demographics were compared to reveal any significant differences in characteristics among those responding to each of the treatments. / There were no significant differences in business reply card return rates--information seeking--among the three treatments, nor was the expected importance conferral effect supported by this study. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 0906. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

A definition of perceived reality of televised content was logically developed and empirically tested. The purpose was to achieve a more precise measurement of this construct which is increasingly considered to be an intervening variable in media effects research. In previous studies, subjects' perceptions of reality, in particular televised content, were sometimes found to be helpful in predicting changes in their attitudes and behaviors as reflections of that content. Also, several studies were conducted to determine the relationship of perceived reality with demographic and television usage variables. Results of this body of research are not conclusive enough to allow one to determine whether or not perceived reality is in fact a useful intervening variable in the media effects process. Therefore, it was argued that a more precise definition of perceived reality is needed. / A 100-item instrument was formulated based on a synthesis of the literature, in particular a study by Hawkins (1977). Items were developed which measured subjects' demographic background, television usage habits and perceptions of reality. The perceived reality items were written to measure perceptions at three levels of specificity (television in general, show types and specific shows) and two referents (people in shows and events in shows). It was hypothesized that the concept of perceived reality is not uni-dimensional but rather that it consists of three dimensions: Magic Window, Discrepancy (between television characters and real life people) and Instructional (social lessons). / Subjects were selected from three age populations: adolescents (12 to 15 years old), college students (18 to 24 years old), and older adults (55 years of age and older). A total of 186 subjects completed the questionnaire. / Perceived reality was found to have three component dimensions: Magic Window, Instructional and Identity. Magic Window is a dimension reflecting the degree to which a person believes a television program shows actual actions in the ongoing lives of real people and, as such, that the presented content is independent of the television coverage of it. The Instructional dimension reflects the degree to which a person believes that televised content presents useful social information that can be applied in real life. The Identity dimension reflects the degree to which a person believes there are people portrayed on television that conform to people known in real life and that those people act in such a way as to portray useful lessons for the viewer. / Scales measuring each dimension were found to have high reliability (Magic Window, (alpha)= .83; Instructional, (alpha)= .85; and Identity, (alpha)= .86). A subject's value on any of these three scales was not found to be related to demographic variables (age, sex, race, parent's education, parent's occupational status or household income) or to television usage variables (amount of viewing, types of shows favored or motives for viewing). / It was concluded that the construct of perceived reality was not uni-dimensional and that it is probably a psychological trait that cannot be adequately explained by a person's television usage habits or demographic background. Policy implications were discussed and a plan for future research was outlined. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-03, Section: A, page: 0905. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0011. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1979.

This study further tested the relationship between affective states and voluntary selection and use by testing predictions derived from Zillmann's "annoyance reduction" hypotheses and Mehrabian's "arousal eliciting" hypotheses. The annoyance reduction hypotheses predicted television viewing based on the "absorbing" and "arousing" qualities of programs. The arousal eliciting hypotheses predicted viewing based on the "arousal eliciting" qualities of programs. / Eighty-four female subjects were placed in either a positive (success plus praise) condition or a negative (failure plus insult) condition and then given the opportunity to view television during a ten minute waiting period. Selective exposure was unobtrusively measured at that time. After viewing, subjects were asked to rate their feelings about the programs they had just had the opportunity to watch. / The results indicated differential viewing patterns between annoyed and praised individuals. Annoyed individuals viewed television significantly less than praised individuals. This was seen as important because it indirectly supported the Zillmann hypothesis that annoyed individuals may be so preoccupied with their affective state that they are unable or unwilling to change their state through television viewing. Furthermore, the initial results supported the Mehrabian hypothesis that programs that might elicit high arousal should be preferred (i.e. viewed) more than programs that might elicit low arousal. This was seen as important because it extended the possible utility of Mehrabian's theory to the mass media area. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2346. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The main purpose of this study was to determine why people listen to one radio format as opposed to another. A secondary purpose was to derive hypotheses from the uses and gratifications theoretic perspective and to test those hypotheses. / Very little research has been conducted concerning formats, the elements which comprise them, and the reasons people listen to them. The author reviewed the pertinent literature concerning formats. He then reviewed the uses and gratifications literature, and, using the results of empirical studies, formed some empirical generalizations from which he derived several hypotheses linking psychological needs with specific elements of formats. / In order to test these hypotheses, the author constructed and pretested a questionnaire which was then distributed to 149 undergraduates. The questionnaire consisted of a psychological need inventory and questions related to media preferences. A content analysis of local radio stations was conducted. The needs, constructed from the questionnaire data by factor analysis, were correlated with the content analysis results as tests of the hypotheses. None of the hypotheses were statistically significant. / The author performed several post hoc analyses in order to control for confounding variables. The only post hoc measures which proved useful were corrections for attenuation, which rendered two of the hypotheses statistically significant. / The author concluded with suggestions for future research, including random sampling, conducting the study in a larger market, and the possible use of a different theoretic perspective. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2346. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

This study investigates existent agricultural communication channels used by an increasingly differentiated farm population. The purpose was (1) to examine which sources and channels of farm production information are utilized by the farm husbands and/or farm wives in the two county district, (2) to determine if small and large-scale operators use the same sources of farm production information, and (3) to determine if farmers use different sources for livestock production than for crop production. / Issues regarding the development of diffusion research in the U.S. are addressed. Shortcomings of the diffusion research tradition in the U.S. and LDCs are also discussed. A qualitative approach was used in conjunction with a quantitative data analysis to describe the existent communication sources and channels used by the 60 farmers comprising the study sample. / The review of literature indicates that farm husbands and wives may be considered joint decision makers, but may constitute different farm sub-groups. It was found that a greater proportion of farm wives use interpersonal information sources, such as family, friends, and neighbors, whereas a greater proportion of farm husbands use interpersonal extension, research-based personnel information sources. / A difference in information usage was also found to exist between small and large-scale farm operators. Large-scale farm operators use interpersonal extension/research-based personnel more than do the small-scale farm operators. Finally, a greater proportion of crop producers use the interpersonal extension, research-based source more often than other sources while livestock producters use the mass media source most often. / This study demonstrates that different social structures existent within an agricultural system use different agricultural information sources. The identification of these social structures may offer new direction to more efficient information dissemination by organizations and agencies attempting to serve the farm clientele. / It is suggested, therefore, that communication researchers attempt to identify different social structures, as well as which information sources are used by the identified groups, as part of any dissemination strategy. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-04, Section: A, page: 0827. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1985.

This study provides an alternative conceptual and operational approach for examining television viewing behaviors and effects. Traditional measures of television viewing, "general TV viewing" and "individual program viewing" are criticized. Viewing pattern analysis, in contrast, is asserted to be more meaningful in detecting effects of TV exposure. Viewing patterns consist of proportions of viewing time for each program type. This study proposes that different viewing patterns will have different effects. / A test of pattern analysis is conducted in the context of the cultivation theory. First, three distinctive viewing patterns are found among adolescents: masculine, neutral, and feminine viewing patterns. Most of the masculine pattern members are boys and an overwhelming percentage of the feminine pattern members are girls. Second, viewing pattern effects are found to be much greater when compared with traditional measures of general TV viewing. But, when age, education, gender, income, and race are controlled, most of viewing pattern effects disappear. / Pattern analytic methods offer useful information about TV viewing behaviors which could not be obtained by the previous analytic methods. Viewing patterns are specifically found to have heuristic value as predictor variables in cultivation theory. Advanced modeling techniques are needed to further identify the hidden structures among viewing patterns, demographic variables, and cultivation variables. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: A, page: 2436. / Major Professor: Gary Heald. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This investigation examined the criteria and factors involved in selecting and writing news for Jordan Television's main Arabic News Program during a 13-week period. The data were primarily collected through participant observation of the news operations and by soliciting the reasons for the news decisions of all the subjects involved in the news selection process. In-depth interviews, review of relevant documents, and content analysis of the actual news output during 1 week were additional techniques used. / The results indicate that the major dimensions of the applied news selection criteria emanated from government policy considerations which mainly revolved around concerns relevant to the country's security, stability and so-called interest and which were characterized by the following news gatekeeping practices: (a) preserving Jordan's friendships and relations with other countries, (b) giving top priority coverage to the locally originated official news, (c) emphasizing only the news that legitimized and strengthened the government's announced positions toward the central Arab and regional political problems, and (d) censorship of any news considered as incompatible with such policies. / The results also indicate that supplementary dimensions of the applied news criteria emanated from the gatekeepers' desire to make the news program more appealing by selecting stories, primarily about international events for which films were available and which were not expected to trigger negative official feedback, mainly concerning the superpowers' affairs, nuclear issues, disasters, science, sports and light items. / In sum, the study revealed that the government's influences, policies, censorship and interference in the selection and assignments of news progressively offset the gatekeepers' professional news preferences and outlook in carrying out their news gatekeeping and offset the audience count or interest in JTV's news practices. / Other factors found to significantly influence the news selection and output were the lack of serious attempts by, and the limited possibilities for, JTV's news staff to seek out the news on their own, coupled with the availability of news from outside sources and the heavy reliance by JTV news on those sources, in addition to the need to fill the available space and time in the news program. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: A, page: 1610. / Major Professor: Richard R. Lee. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study combined the uses and gratifications approach with the Theory of Reasoned Action, an especially important combination because the study dealt with a non-Western culture. The results provide strong support for the two methods used in combination. / The study sample were 317 randomly selected participants from the faculties of King Saud University and Imam Bin Saud Islamic University, both in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. / The study tested five hypotheses for Saudi television and five for Saudi newspapers. A model to illustrate the relationship between predictor and predicted variables was proposed. All hypotheses regarding Saudi television and newspapers were statistically supported. / The analysis of the proposed model reveals both direct and indirect relationships. In the case of television and newspapers, beliefs x evaluations and normative beliefs x motivations to comply were antecedent variables to the gratifications sought and media usage relationship. In both television and newspapers, media usage appears not to be an intervening variable between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained. This may suggest a third variable--habitual behavior or lifestyle behavior. A direct relationship was found between gratifications obtained and both beliefs x evaluations and normative beliefs x motivation to comply. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-04, Section: A, page: 1034. / Major Professor: Gary R. Heald. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.