COMM 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Longitudinal Study, United States Presidential Approval Rating

• School: U of M
• Department: Communication Studies
• Course: COMM 102
• Professor: Scott Campbell

Document Summary

Scientific methods in media effects research: experiment. Gathering data under controlled conditions - you have a lot of control of the variables. Treatment group: the group that was exposed to a manipulated independent variable. Control group: the group that was not exposed to a manipulated independent variable. Manipulation of the independent variable is done to see whether changes in the iv lead to corresponding changes in the dv. Makes the groups in an experiment equivalent prior exposure to the experimental manipulation; helps eliminate extra variables. Control; ensures all subjects have the same experience. If you were doing an online test instead of in the lab, you might be multitasking which would affect your answers - this is avoided in a lab. Can only test short-term effects: survey. You don"t expose subjects to content, you just ask them questions directly (unlike experiments where you try not to say what the experiment is measuring)