PLAP 3140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Dependent And Independent Variables, Scientific Control, Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship
1 Nov 2016
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26.10.16
● Re Paper:
○ It is ok to be wrong : so long as it is smart wrong
○ 1. Set up expectations, drawing on class material
■ Think about expectations you have, think about claims you want to make
○ 2. Analyze content of your stories (drawing on class material)
■ Shaw - abortion
■ Gilens and Hertzman: Telecomm Act of 1996
■ Dunaway and Graber:
■ Lots we can draw on - fine to cite lecture material
○ 3. Explain whether you found what you expected to find, or not
○ 4. If possible, speculate about why you did not find what you expected to (you
may not have much to work with here.)
■ Can leave it at “it was surprising” -- though maybe you set up
expectations of observing ---- maybe they share a corporate owner, and
you expect them to cover stories in the same way, but they don’t,
■ Stories from the last 3 months
● “How did you get most of your news about the presidential election campaign?”
○ We, in the room, are atypical: most still get news from televisions
● Debates:
○ Anderson Cooper: Debate Disasters
○ Lore about debate between Nixon and Kennedy:
■ Fairly flimsy evidence
○ Druckman (2003)
■ Research questions: Does TV matter when it comes to presidential
debates? What impact do visual images have on how viewers evaluate
the candidates?
■ Research design: Randomized controlled experiment with college
students. Two conditions: radio vs. television
● University of Minnesota
● Studying Media:
○ Descriptive Account: What does media content look like?
○ Causal Account:
■ What explains what media content looks like?
■ What are the effects of media exposure?
○ X -> Y
■ X - exposure to media, exposure x characteristics of media
■ Y - opinions, information, behaviors (Eg evaluations, issues, voting)
○ Ex hypothesis:
■ The more media you consume, the more you know
■ The more media you consume, the more confused you are
○ Hypothesis:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
It is ok to be wrong : so long as it is smart wrong. Think about expectations you have, think about claims you want to make. Analyze content of your stories (drawing on class material) Gilens and hertzman: telecomm act of 1996. Lots we can draw on - fine to cite lecture material. Explain whether you found what you expected to find, or not. If possible, speculate about why you did not find what you expected to (you may not have much to work with here. ) Can leave it at it was surprising -- though maybe you set up expectations of observing ---- maybe they share a corporate owner, and you expect them to cover stories in the same way, but they don"t, How did you get most of your news about the presidential election campaign? . We, in the room, are atypical: most still get news from televisions. Lore about debate between nixon and kennedy:
